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_r-!;^^\ .'■ O 



A HISTORY 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

REVISED EDITION 



COLUMBUS 
By Joaquin Miller 

Then pale and worn, he paced his deck, 

And peered through darkness — Ah, that night 
Of all dark nights! And then a spark — 

A light! A light! At last a light! 
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled ! 

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn ! 
He gained a world ; he gave that world 

Its grandest lesson : " On ! sail on ! " 

From " Joaqiiin Miller's Complete Poems," by courtesy of Harr Wagner Pub- 
lishing Company, San Francisco. 



A HISTORY 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

FOR SCHOOLS 
REVISED EDITION 

A. 

By S^'"Ef'FORMAN 

AUTHOR OF "advanced AMERICAN HISTORY," "FIRST 
LESSONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY," ETQ^ 




NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1920 






Copyright, in20,by 
The Century Co. 



C)CiA565568 




PREFACE 



This Revised Edition of my History of the United States 
for Schools may with propriety be called a new book. Many 
new chapters have been added ; most of the original chapters 
have been re-written ; many important structural changes have 
been made ; the European background has received a much 
more elaborate treatment; the industrial features of our 
growth have been more fully described ; the space allotted to 
the period since the Civil War has been more than doubled ; 
the facts of recent history have been stated in much greater 
detail. While these changes, however, are substantial and 
far-reaching, it must not be inferred that the plan of the 
original book has been wholly abandoned. For in the first 
edition there were certain characteristic features of treat- 
ment that met with general approval, and it will be found 
that those features are still prominent in this edition 

I have tried to tell the story in a simple, straightforward 
way. History teaching is sufifering not a little of late by 
reason of the complicated and confusing manner in which 
texts are being written. Some authors have adopted what 
may be called the zig-zag method of presenting the subject. 
They run ahead and come back, repeat, and overlap. History 
that has amounted to anything was never written in this see- 
saw fashion. If you want your history to be interesting 
you must visualize the Past, and you cannot do this with a 
zig-zag method of narration, for the Past is not a zig-zag af- 
fair. The historian must go straight on with his story, un- 



vi PREFACE 

folding the drama even as it is unfolded to the eyes of men 
in the passing years. 

The central fact of American history is groivth ■ — territorial 
growth, industrial growth, political growth. It has been 
my aim, therefore, to show a growing nation : to picture 
the successive advances of the wave of American civilization 
that was always moving toward the W^est ; to trace 
the development of our commerce and industry from 
their small and rude beginnings in the seventeenth cen- 
tury to their present grand proportions ; to follow the 
steps taken by the people in their struggles with problems 
of government until they at last evolved the greatest and 
best democracy under the sun. 

An underlying theme of the text is Americanism. In order 
to teach the true meaning of America, I have taken great 
pains to acquaint the pupils with that precious heritage of lib- 
erty and democracy which has been derived from three cen- 
turies of American experience. Throughout the book the 
facts of our history have been used as the means for impart- 
ing lessons in Americanism. No feature of history teaching 
can have more value than this, for a lesson in true Americanism 
is -a lesson in good citizenship. 

In the preparation of the book the every day needs of 
pupils and teachers were kept in mind an'd a faithful effort 
was made to produce a text that would bring good results in 
the classroom. At the ends of chapters there are questions 
framed with the view of eliciting a knowledge of the leading 
facts of the text. The topics suggested for special reading 
are, for the most part, designed for illuminating and enriching 
the text, although many of them deal with subjects not treated 
in the text and are therefore supplementary in character. 
For all the great subjects there are outlines for intensive re- 
views (pp. 493-506). If the pupil is practised in these reviews 
as he goes along, by the time he has finished the book he will 
have acquired a considerable amount of related knowledge 
on all the i-mportant topics of American history. A dis- 



PREFACE . vii 

tinguished teacher of history in one of our universities used 
to tell the student who was reciting to " take up the subject 
and run with it." If these reviews are mastered in the begin- 
ning and the mastery is maintained as the class advances, 
pupils will find themselves taking up subjects and running with 
them. 

I have been greatly assisted in my work by the courtesies 
extended by the officers of the Library of Congress and also 
by those of the Washington Public Library. 

S. E. FoRMAN. 

Washington, D. C. 





CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 

XIX 

XX 
XXI 



PAGF 

Life in Europe in the Fifteenth Century . 3 

Progress in Europe in the Fifteenth Century 8 

Columbus Discovers a New World .... 14 

Spanish Voyages and Explorations .... 20 

England Becomes Mistress of the Seas . . 26 

Our Country About the Year 1600 .... 32 

Around the Chesapeake Bay 38 

Along the St. Lawrence and Around New 

York Bay 44 

Around Massachusetts Bay and Along the 

Piscataqua River 49 

Along the Connecticut River and Around the 

Narragansett Bay 55 

Neighbors of Virginia 61 

The Middle Colonies 66 

Rebellions and Indian Uprisings .... 73 

Our Country in 1700 78 

A Half-Century of Colonial Growth ... 85 

In the Mississippi Valley: Louisiana ... 91 

The Struggle for a Continent 99 

Over the Mountains 107 

The Mother Country and the Colonies 

Quarrel 114 

Independence Declared 122 

Struggling for Independence 131 

ix 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXII Victory and Independence 140 

XXIII A Time of Great Danger (1783-1787) . . .150 

XXIV Forming a More Perfect Union 156 

XXV Launching the Ship of State 163 

XXVI A Westward Moving People 171 

XXVII Our Country in 1800 178 

XXVIII Thomas Jefferson and the Great Expansion 187 

XXIX The War for Commercial Freedom .... 195 

XXX Life in the Old Northwest 204 

XXXI Around the Gulf of Mexico; Across the 

Mississippi 211 

XXXII An Era of Good Feeling 28 

XXXIII The People Come into Power ...... 227 

XXXIV Transportation and Western Development . 236 
XXXV Carrying the Flag to the Pacific .... 245 

XXXVI Westward Ho! 253 

XXXVII Progress in the Forties 261 

XXXVIII Face to Face with the Slavery Question . '271 

XXXIX Shall Slave Territory be Extended? . . . 280 

XL Our Country in i860 288 

XLI The Beginnings of a Great Conflict . . . 297 

XLII The First Clashes of the Civil War . . . 304 

XLIII The War in the West 313 

XLIV The War in the East 319 

XLV The Close of the Struggle 327 

XLVI War-Times North and South 336 

"^ XLVII Binding up the Nation's Wounds .... 344 

XLVIII Starting Anew 352 

XLIX Prosperity and Progress 362 

L The Democrats Return to Power .... 373 

LI Captains of Industry and Captains of Labor 381 

LII The New West; Control of "Big Business" . 389 

LIII Hard Times 397 

LIV The United States a World Power . . . 404 

LV The Dawn of a New Century 411 

LVI The Dawn of a New Century (Continued) . 421 



CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER PAGE 

LVII Social Betterment and Political Reform . 431 

LVIII Important Laws; International Troubles . 442 

LIX War 454 

APPENDICES 

I The Declaration of Independence 473 

II Constitution of the United States 477 

III General Review 493 

IV Reading List 507 

Index 509 



LIST OF COLORED MAPS 
Our Country Three Hundred Years Ago . Front cover lining 
Before the French and Indian War . . Facing page 105 



After the French and Indian War . 

The United States after the Treaty of 1873 

Our Country in 1800 

The United States in 1821 

The United States in 1S40 

The United States in 1850 

The United States in 1861 

The Growth of the United States from 

1776 to 1867 

The New West 



105 
152 

178 
216 
259 
259 
300 

350 
390 



Our Country To-day Back cover lining 

Illustrations and maps in the text may be found usually by 
referring to the subject in the Index at the end of the book. 




A HISTORY OF THE 
UNITED STATES 




The great seal of the United States 



A HISTORY OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

I ' 

LIFE IN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 

The story of our country begins at the time when white men 
from Europe made their first settlements in our Western World. 
Since those settlements were made more than four hundred years 
ago, we ought in this the opening chapter of our history to learn 
something of Europe as it existed in the fifteenth century,, the cen- 
tury in which Europeans first landed on American shores. Let us, 
then, begin our story by learning what kind of a place Europe was 
about the year 1500, and thus get a view of the European back- 
ground of early American history. 

The Occupations of the People. Five hundred years ago 
nearly everybody in Europe was a farmer. All classes, high 
and low, rich and poor, were tillers of the soil. Even the 
tradesmen and workmen who lived in the towns tilled small 
patches of land. And in what a wretched manner the land was 
tilled ! Plows were made of wood, and were drawn by oxen. 
Grain was cut with a rude semicircular knife called a sickle, 
and was threshed from the straw by being beaten with a stick 
called a flail. The chief crops were wheat, rye, barley, and 
oats. Corn, potatoes, and tobacco were as yet unknown to 
European farmers. The cultivation of the land required severe 
toil ; yet the yield was small, for the soil was poor and little 
was done to improve it. 

But farming, of course, was not the only occupation. About 
one tenth of the people lived in towns and cities, and were en- 
gaged chiefly in manufacturing — in the weaving of cloth, in 
.the tanning of leather, in the making of shoes, in the forging of 
iron, in the cutting of stone. A manufacturing establishment 

3 



4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

was, in most cases, simply a little shop in which all the work 
was done by three persons: the master, the owner of the shop; 
one skilled workman, called a journeyman; and one unskilled 
workman, called an apprentice. The shop was merely one of 
the rooms of the dwelling in which the master and his family 
lived. Manufacturing, therefore, was still in the household 
stage of development. x\nd it was still in a very rude stage, 
for almost everything was done by hand. Very few machines 
had been' invented, while the uses of steam and electricity were 
unknown. 

There was buying and selling in the towns, but there were no 
great stores where goods of different kinds could be bought all 
the year round. Goods were sold by the very tradesmen who 
• made them. The shoemaker sold the shoes made by his own 
hands ; the weaver the cloth made on his own loom ; the tanner 
the leather tanned in his own yard. Thus every tradesman was 
both a manufacturer and a merchant. 

There was, however, a small class of business men known as 
merchants. For in almost every large town there was held, at 
least once a year, a fair, which always lasted at least a week and 
in some cases two or three weeks. At the fair were sold goods 
brought into the town from outside — from other towns and 
from foreign countries. Buyers from far and near flocked to 
the fair to buy articles and luxuries that the tradesmen of the 
town could not supply. They bought silks and velvets, fine 
rugs, choice wines, precious stones, spices and drugs from the 
far-ofif countries of the Orient, from Persia and India and 
China and the islands of the far East. 

Means of Communication. With the exception of the trade 
in luxuries, there was but little commerce carried on between 
different cities and towns or between one country and another. 
This was because the means of communication were so bad. 
On land the only means of travel were the roads, and these 
were so poorly built that they could hardly be called roads at all. 
Sometimes a road was so bad that it required seven or eight 
horses to draw one of the clumsy wagons of the time. On some 



LIFE IN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 




Street Scene in Europe in the Fifteenth Century 



of the highways the holes were so deep that it was impossible 
for any kind of vehicle to pass, and in wet weather horses often 
sank up to their knees in mud. And travel was as dangerous 
as it was difficult, for almost everywhere travelers were in dan- 
ger of attack by highway robbers. Travel on water was hardly 
any safer than it was on land, for on every sea there were 
pirates. 

The Lower Classes, the Middle Classes, and the Nobles. 
Society was made up of three grades or ranks of people : the 
lower class, the middle class, and the nobles. More than half 
of the entire population belonged to the lower class, which con- 
sisted of serfs and peasants. A serf was an object of pity, for 
he was almost a slave. He lived all his life on a little patch 
of ground belonging to a large estate, and worked for the lord 



6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

who owned the estate. He was not allowed to leave the land 
upon which he was born. If the land was sold he remained 
on his little patch and worked for the owner. The peasant 
also worked for some lord, but he was not fixed to the spot 
where he was ,born ; he could give up his little patch and 
move to another place. Both peasants and serfs lived miser- 
able lives. Their houses were mere hovels, their clothing 
was made of the coarsest material, and their food was of the 
poorest quality. 

In the middle class were the professional and business men — 
lawyers, doctors, priests, merchants, tradesmen. The people 
of the middle class as a rule lived in the towns, and their 
life was by no means so hard as the life of the peasants and 
serfs. For, although in the towns the houses were crowded 
together and the streets were unpaved and narrow and dirty, 
the townspeople could nevertheless lead fairly comfortable 
lives and could enjoy themselves in many ways. 

At the top of the social scale were the nobles — the barons, 
counts, earjs, and dukes. These were the landholders. All 
the land that did not belong to the Church belonged to the 
nobles. Even the land on w^hich the town was built generally 
belonged to some noble. The noble usually lived in a castle 
or in a great farm-house known as the manor-house. This 
was strongly built and was large and roomy, but as a dwelling- 
place it was extremely uncomfortable. It was without running 
water, it had no stoves for heating, and it was lighted by the 
dim flicker of candles. The nobles spent much of their time 
in warlike games and in hunting. They were not compelled 
to work, for their fields were tilled by the peasants and serfs. 

Government in Europe in the Fifteenth Century, Many 
of the nobles took a part in government and assisted the 
King in his tasks ; for almost every nation was ruled by a 
King. In some of the countries the power of the King was 
unlimited and he could rule pretty much as he pleased. He 
could both make the laws and compel the people to obey them. 
But this was not so in England. There the laws were made 
by a body called the Parliament. This consisted of two 



LIFE IN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 7 

branches, a House of Lords, the members of which were no- 
bles, and a House of Commons, whose members were elected 
by landholders and citizens of the towns. In England, there- 
fore, many of the common people had a voice in government. 
But in the other countries the ordinary persons took no part 
in the affairs of the nation. In cities and towns, however, 
the people usually had a voice in their local government. 

Religion; Education. In every nation religion was a 
powerful force in the lives of the people. In western Europe 
— in England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Austria — 
all the people were Catholics and the Catholic Church was a 
rich and mighty organization. At the head of the Church 
was the Pope, who lived at Rome. The Pope exercised a 
general supervision over the entire Catholic world. Below 
the Pope were the bishops. The bishops exercised a general 
control over all the churches within a certain district called a 
" diocese." Bishops were often large land holders, and as 
such they ranked with the nobles in power. Below the bishops 
were the priests. A priest had charge of the religious welfare 
of the people who lived within a certain small district called the 
" parish " and who worshiped at the parish church. 

The priest also had charge of any school that might be in 
his parish. For education at that time was under the control 
and direction of the Church. But schools in those old days 
were few in number. In every country the majority of the 
people were ignorant. Aery often the rich and highly born 
were unable to read or w^ite. In some parishes the only edu- 
cated person was the priest. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of farming in Europe in the fifteenth century; of 
manufacturing; of the system of merchandise; describe a fair. 

2. Describe the means of communication that existed in Europe in 
the fifteenth century. 

3. Name the three classes of people and describe each class. 

4. Tell what you can about government in Europe in the fifteenth 
century ; about religion ; about education. 



II 

PROGRESS IN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 

In the first chapter we learned some of the leaduig facts about 
European life in the fifteenth century. In this chapter, which also 
deals with the subject of the European background, we shall learn 
of some events that occurred in Europe just before white men 
began to come to America, and which had much to do with their 
coming. 

Progress of Civilization in the Fifteenth Century. We 
have learned that in the fifteenth century the civilization of 
Europe was simple and crtide. But Europeans were not 
going backward at this time ; in truth, they were moving for- 
ward at a rapid pace. Among the forward movements of the 
time was a remarkable advancement in learning. 

For centuries the minds of the people of Europe had been 
asleep. There had been little interest in education or in 
books, few great inventions had been made, and civilization 
seemed to be at a standstill. But in the opening years of the 
fifteenth century the minds and spirits of men became so com- 
pletely aroused and awakened that it seemed as if the world 
had been born again. So the period of the awakening was 
called the " Renaissance," a word meaning " rebirth " or 
" new birth." 

With this Renaissance came more beautiful pictures, more 
delightful poems, more useful inventions, more comfortable 
houses. And with it came a love for education and for books 
such as had never before been known. Men went hungry 
and wore ragged clothes in order that they might buy books. 

In order to meet the demand for more books a wonderful 
improvement was made in the method of printing. Instead 
of printing on a solid engraved block containing a whole page 



PROGRESS IK EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 9 

of reading matter, little blocks called types, each containing 
a single letter, were used. 

Since the types were movable one set of them could be used 
again and again for the printing of different books, whereas 
the engraved blocks could be used for the printing of only 
one book. Movable types came into use about the year 1450 
and by the end of the fifteenth century books were being 
printed by the thousands. 

In the fifteenth century great changes were made in methods 
of warfare. At the beginning of the century the cannons in 
use were rude affairs and gunpowder had but little strength. 
Cannon-balls were made of stone or lead and weighed three 




A Cannon of the Fifteenth Century 

or four pounds. But the quality of the gunpowder gradu- 
ally improved and cannons were better made. By the end of 
the century cannons were hurling balls weighing more than two 
hundred pounds. By this time also the hand-gun, or musket, 
had come into use. So men could go forth to war with con- 
non and muskets, and could move against a foe with a force 
more deadly and terrible than had ever been known in the 
wars that had gone before. 

There were also improvements in the art of navigation. 
In the fourteenth century there began to appear on the decks 
of European vessels the little instrument known as the 



10 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

mariner's compass. With the aid of the compass a sailor 
could tell the direction his ship was going even on the darkest 
night. Soon, also, an instrument called the astrolabe came 
into use. With this a mariner could reckon the latitude of 
his ship. With compass and astrolabe together, he could tell 
in which direction his ship was sailing, and could get a fairly 
good idea of where his ship was, even though it was out on 
the broad ocean hundreds of miles from land. 

In the fifteenth century these two instruments came into 
general use, and with their appearance sailors became bolder 
and bolder, and were soon venturing out on the trackless ex- 
panse of the ocean. 




EXPLAKATION 
+_,_* Trade Route coutroUed Ijy Venice 

Trade Route controlled by Genoa 

Middle Route 

Da Gama' s Route 



■Cr^ 



'■.;/<r.- 



,C<,-<pinn 



g \ >.<^»\ ^^^Constantinople"--,_?° iKSfKt 




Routes to the Orient 



Blocking- the .Old Trade Routes. You learned that many 
of the luxuries sold by the merchants at fairs came from the 
Orient. At the opening of the fifteenth century the trade 
in these luxuries had become very brisk and very profitable. 
Every year thousands of ships went out from Venice and 
Genoa and other cities, carrying woolen goods, and tin, cop- 



PROGRESS IN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY ii 

per, and other metals to Constantinople and to seaports on 
the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. From the seaports 
the goods were carried on the backs of camels overland 
across Asia to Persia and India and even to far-off China. 
In the Orient the merchants received in exchange for their 
goods spices, drugs, precious stones, and silks. 

About the middle of the fifteenth century the merchants 
began to suffer at the hands of the Turks. These fierce and 
barbarous people overran Asia Minor in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, and before the fifteenth century closed they had con- 
quered all the countries bordering on the Black Sea and sev- 
eral of those bordering on the Mediterranean. Wherever the 
Turks established their power they interfered with the trade 
of the merchants. They stood in the overland routes that 
led from the Mediterranean to the Orjent and would not al- 
low the merchants to pass. Turks also blocked the water 
route that led from Alexandria, in Egypt, down the Red Sea 
and across the Indian Ocean to India. So by the end of the 
fifteenth century peaceful trade between Europe and the Orient 
by the eastern routes was no longer possible. 

This blocking the trade routes was a heavy blow^ to the 
people of Europe, for they depended almost entirely upon the 
Orient for luxuries. Especially were they dependent upon 
the Orient for their spices — pepper, allspice, cinnamon, and 
cloves. Europe might endure the loss of the silks and rugs 
and precious stones of the Orient, but the spices of that far- 
off country it must have. 

Beliefs About the Earth in the Fifteenth Century. Just 
as soon, therefore, as the old land routes to the Orient were 
closed, Europeans began an eager search for a new route 
by water. But the search had to be carried on in the dark ; 
for men at that time, even the wisest of them, knew less about 
the earth than is known to-day by a little child. As for the 
size of the earth, we can see how much they knew about that 
by looking at the map of the world (p. 12) as it was known 
to Europeans about the year 1400. The map shows only 
Europe, southern Asia, and a narrow strip of northern Africa. 



12 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




The World as Known to 
Europeans in 1400 



America does not appear on this map because it is doubtful 
if Europeans had ever heard of America. 

There is a story that a sea-rover named Leif Ericson sailed 
from Norway to Iceland about the year 1000, and that, steer- 
ing from Iceland in a southwesterly direction, he explored the 
_ ^ American coast as far south 

J'ul'h^^^^m,.-^ ?j^ as Rhode Island, where it is 

said he made a settlement 
called Vinland. But we do 
not know that this story is 
true, and, even if it is true, 
it is likely that by the fif- 
teenth century all memory 
of the voyage of Ericson 
had faded from men's 
minds. So it is quite correct to say that in the early part of the 
fifteenth century the people of Europe knew nothing at all 
about America and believed that the earth consisted only of Eu- 
rope, southern Asia, and a narrow strip of northern Africa. 

The shape of the earth was even less well understood than 
its size. A few thoughtful scholars, who knew more about 
geography than most men, believed the earth to be a sphere ; 
but in the minds of most people the earth was a great flat 
body of land around which flowed a mysterious ocean. In 
the distant parts of this ocean, it was thought, were sea-dragons 
and other horrid monsters that would swallow up all ships and 
sailors that dared to come near. So it was out upon a sea of 
darkness and terror that the sailors of Europe went when 
they began to seek for a new route to the Orient. 

Portuguese Lead in the Search for a Route to the Orient. 
In the search for a water route to the Orient, Prince Henry of 
Portugal took the lead. This remarkable man, known as 
Henry the Navigator, gave up the gay and fashionable life of 
a prince in order to study navigation and to make discoveries 
in unknown parts of the world. His great desire was to 
reach India by a water route. He began to send out his ships 



PROGRESS IN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 13 

even before the old trade routes had been blocked, and by 
1434 his captains had already sailed down the African coast 
farther than sailors had ever before ventured. By 1444 his 
mariners had gone as far south as the Cape Verde Islands. 
But in 1460 Prince Henry died, and his ships had not yet 
reached India. Still, he had done a great work, for his sailors 
had discovered coasts never before known to Europeans. 

The plans of Henry the Navigator were carried forward by 
those who came after him. In 1487 Bartholomew Dias, a 
Portuguese captain, pushed as far south as the Cape of Good 
Hope, and, before he turned back, sailed several hundred miles 
into the Indian Ocean. He would have gone farther had not 
his crew been afraid of the monsters which they imagined 
were lying in wait for them in tht boundless waters beyond. 
Ten years after this voyage of Dias, another Portuguese cap- 
tain, Vasco da Gama, rounded the Cape and, in spite of the 
imaginary monsters of the deep, sailed on to India. So be- 
fore the end of the fifteenth century the Portuguese sailors had 
discovered a water route to India and to the other countries 
of the Orient. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What was the "Renaissance"? What were some of its results? 

2. Give an account of the invention of printing. 

3. What improvements were made in the fifteenth century in meth- 
ods of warfare? In the art of navigation? 

4. Of what articles did the trade between Europe and the Orient 
consist? What caused that trade to be lost? 

5. What beliefs did men have in the fifteenth century about the size 
and shape of the earth? Tell the story of Leif Ericson. 

6. Tell the story of Henry the Navigator. Give an account of the 
voyages of Dias and Vasco da Gama. 

READING REFERENCES 

1. The Vikings in America : Explorers and Settlers,^ 3-14. 

2. Leif the Lucky : Lane and Hill, 5-7. 

3. The Story of the Gun : Forman, 137-146. 

4. The Portuguese Explorers : Lawler, 1-13. 

1 The full names of authors and the full titles of the books referred 
to are found in the reading list (Appendix IV) at the end of the book. 



Ill 

COLUMBUS DISCOVERS A NEW WORLD 

Spain, as well as Portugal, sent out ships to search for a water 
route to the Orient. Of all the men who sailed under the Spanish 
flag, the bravest and boldest was Christopher Columbus. In this 
chapter, then, let us learn of the deeds of Columbus. 

Youth of Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus 
was born in the city of Genoa, Italy, about the year 1446. 
His father was a poor weaver whose earnings were hardly 
sufficient to support his family. Christopher, therefore, had 
to leave school at an early age and begin to earn his own liv- 
ing. At first he worked at his father's trade, but by the time 
he had reached his twenty-fifth year he was out on the sea, 
leading the life of a sailor. 

Columbus Plans for a Western Voyage to India. Dur- 
ing the years when Christopher was growing into manhood 
great changes were taking place in the world around him. 
His own city, Genoa, and the other cities of the Mediterranean 
as well, were losing their trade with the Orient because of the 
blocking of the overland routes. So, while he was still a 
young man, he decided that he would try to find a water route 
to India. About the time the Portuguese sailors were creep- 
ing down the African coast, extending their voyages farther 
and farther to the south, Columbus appeared in Lisbon with 
a plan for reaching India by a route which he thought would be 
much shorter than that by the Cape of Good Hope. 

It was Columbus's firm belief that the earth was round like a 
ball, and that India could be reached by sailing directly west. 
He also thought that the coast of Asia was only about four 
thousand miles west of the coast of Europe. If these things 
were so, why, he aslced, should not. the voyage from Europe 

14 



COLUMBUS DISCOVERS A NEW WORLD 



to India be made by sailing directly across the Atlantic? 

Why go all around the barn and enter at the back door, as the 

Portuguese were trying to do, when one could go straight 

across and enter at the front door? As early as 1475 it was 

so clear to his mind 

that the western 

route was the best 

that he was willing 

to undertake the 

voyage. 

But such a voy- 
age required ships 
and men, and these 
Columbus did not 
have. He applied 
to the King of Por- 
tugal for aid, but 
was sent away 
empty-handed. He 
applied to Spain, 
and was again 
turned away. But 
Columbus was a 
man with a strong Columbus 

will, and men with strong wills are not easily turned aside 
from their purposes. For many long years Columbus, now 
in Portugal, now in Spain, now in his own city of Genoa, 
visited the palaces of nobles and kings, seeking aid for the 
plan that was so dear to him. During these years his feet were 
often sore with much walking and his heart was often sick 
with disappointment, but his faith in his plan and his iron will 
at last brought him success. In 1492 Isabella, the Queen of 
Spain, furnished him with means to undertake the voyage, 
pledging her jewels to raise the necessary money. 

Columbus Sails Westward Across the Atlantic. One 
hundred and twenty sailors and three vessels, the Santa Maria, 
the Pinta, and the Xina, were secured for the voyage. The 




i6 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Columbus Setting Out on His Voyage 

largest of the ships, the Soiifa Maria, was aboitt sixty feet 
in length, a mere toy boat compared with the ocean vessels 
of to-day. 

The little fleet set sail from Palos, in Spain, on the 3d of 
August, 1492, Columbus himself commanding the Santa 
Maria. When the Canary Islands had been passed, Columbus 
steered directly west, and the farther west he sailed, the blacker 
became the darkness of the voyage and the greater became its 
terrors. When days and weeks had passed and no land had 
appeared, the sailors grew impatient and wished to turn back. 
But Columbus was not one to turn back. He cheered his 
men, coaxed them, promised them great rewards if they wotild 
keep on, and in one way and another managed to hold their 
faces to the west. 

At last, after a voyage of seventy days, the fears of the 
sailors suddenly left them, and their hearts were filled with 
joy; for at about midnight between the nth and 12th of 
October, 1492, Columbus, peering into the darkness, saw a 
light ahead ; and the light was on land. At sunrise a landing 
was made on an island called by Columbus San Salvador. 

Columbus felt that his labors and sacrifices had not been 
in vain, for he was sure he had found a new route to India. 



COLUMBUS DISCOVERS A NEW WORLD 



17 



Leaving San Salvador, he sailed along the shores of Cuba, 
Haiti, and other islands, and, as he passed from place to place 
he thought he was skirting the coast of India. So he named 
the strange-looking people on the shores Indians. After 
building a rude fort on the island of Haiti, he sailed for 
Spain. 

On the way back a violent storm arose, and, at a moment 
when it seemed that his boat would sink, Columbus sealed 
up in a cask an account of the voyage and threw it overboard, 
in the hope that it would float ashore and be found. But 
the storm passed, and Columbus reached Palos without hav- 
ing lost a man. Thus a voyage that promised to be the most 
dangerous turned out to be one of the safest ever made. 

Other Voyages of Columbus. No honors were now too 
great for Columbus. According to an agreement made with 
Queen Isabella, he was given the title of Great Admiral, and 
as he passed through Spain from city to city he was treated 
as if he were a king. There was now no trouble in securing 
sailors and ships for the western route. The Great Admiral 
made three more voyages to the new-found land, and on the 
third voyage he first saw (in 1498) the mainland of the conti- 
nent. It was the coast of South America, but he thought it 
was India. 




The First Voyage of Columbus 



i8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

While on his third voyage Cokimbus was accused by enemies 
of wrong-doing, and was arrested and sent home in chains. 
Queen Isabella, always his best friend, ordered him released ; 
but enemies still sprang up on every side and filled his old 
age with bitterness. He died at Valladolid, in Spain, in 1506, 
but so obscure and neglected was he when he passed away 
that no note was taken of his death, and to this day it is not 
certain where the great man lies buried. 

What Columbus Accomplished. Columbus went down to 
his grave believing that he had found a short route to India ; 
but in this he was, of course, mistaken. In the search for 
that route, Portugal had won when Vasco da Gama rounded 
the Cape of Good Hope and sailed on to India. But Colum- 
bus did something far greater than to discover a new route 
to India, something that he had not set out to do, something 
he never knew he had done. What he had discovered was not 
a new water route, but a NEW WORLD. 

How the New World Came to be Called America. The 
ships of Columbus chased the imaginary monsters from the 
sea, or at least chased them from men's minds. After the 
successful voyage of 1492, sailors everywhere grew bold and 
were eager to sail for the new-found lands. Among the 
first to cross the Atlantic in the wake of Columbus was Ameri- 
cus Vespucius, a native of Florence, Italy. This man, sail- 
ing under the flag of Portugal, in 1501, visited the coast of 
what is now Brazil, and not long afterward wrote an interest- 
ing account of what he saw. " I have found,'' he wrote, 
" in the southern part, a continent more populous and more 
full of animals than our Europe, Asia, and Africa." 

A letter from Vespucius thus describing Brazil fell into 
the hands of a German professor who at the time was prepar- 
ing a book on geography. In this book he suggested that 
the region described by Vespucius be named the land of Ameri- 
cus (America) in honor of the man who discovered it. And 
it was named America. The professor probably intended 
that Brazil only should be called America, but the people of 



COLUMBUS DISCOVERS A NEW WORLD 19 

Europe fell into the habit of giving this name to any part of 
the mainland of the New World. So the name America spread 
northward and southward, and in time the whole western 
continent came to be called America. Thus the New World 
was named after Americus Vespucius, and Columbus missed 
the glory and honor of having it named after himself. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the early youth of CoUmibus. 

2. Why did Columbus decide to try to find a water route to India? 
What were his ideas in respect to the size and shape of the earth? 
By what route did he think India could be reached? Give an account 
of his efforts to secure ships and men for a westward voyage. 

3. Tell the story of the great westward voyage of Columbus. 

4. Give an account of the later voyages of Columbus and of his last 
days. 

5. What great thing did Columbus believe he had done? What great 
thing did he actually do ? 

6. Explain how the New World came to be called America. 

READING REFERENCES 

1. Columbus and his Discoveries : Lawler, 14-65. 

2. The Voyage of Columbus: Explorers and Settlers, 15-22; 31-33. 

3. How Pepper Helped to Discover America : Explorers and Settlers, 
35-45- 

4. Read in the class Joaquin Miller's poem on Columbus: Lane and 
Hill, II. 



IV 

SPANISH VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS 

Europeans in small numbers began to go out to the New World 
almost as soon as it was discovered. The first to go were Spanish 
adventurers and explorers, who followed in the wake of Columbus. 
Who were these adventurers and explorers, and what regions did 
they explore? What was the result of their explorations? 

Balboa Discovers the Pacific Ocean. Among the Spaniards 
who went out to America soon after it was discovered by 
Columbus was a soldier of fortune named Balboa. This 
adventurer was the first European to lay eyes upon the great 
ocean that washes the western coast of America. In 1513 
Balboa, roaming about on the Isthmus of Panama in search of 
gold, beheld from the top of a mountain a large body of 
water in the distance. From the direction in which the water 
lay, he knew that he had discovered an unknown sea. Re- 
joicing in his good luck, he made his way to the shore, and, 
wading into the water carrying a banner of Spain in one 
hand and a sword in the other, took possession of the new 
sea, claiming it in the name of his King. He might as well 
have claimed the moon and stars ! He called the new sea the 
South Sea. We know it as the Pacific Ocean. 

First Voyage Around the Globe. About twenty years after 
Vespucius went to Brazil, a far greater sailor passed along 
the Brazilian coast. This was Ferdinand Magellan, who, 
with five ships and two hundred and seventy men, sailed 
from Spain in 15 19, bound for the Molucca Islands, where he 
intended to load the ships with spices. By this time there 
was plain sailing to these islands by the route round the Cape 
of Good Hope, but Magellan bravely resolved to reach them 
by sailing west. He crossed the Atlantic and sailed along 
the eastern coast of South America until he came to the 

20 



SPANISH VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS 



21 




Balboa Takes Possession of the Pacific Ocean 

Strait that now bears his name. Passing through this 
stormy Strait of Magellan, he sailed out (in 1520) on a sea 
whose surface was so quiet and peaceful that he gave it the 
name of Pacific. 

When the great captain had passed the Strait of Magellan 
and his ships had begun to plow the broad waters of the 
Pacific, the sailors felt that they had gone far enough and 
wanted to turn back. They had very little food left, and they 
were afraid that they would get no more on the voyage. But 
Magellan said they must go forward, even if they had to eat 
the ropes with which the ship was rigged. He had set out 
for the Indies, he declared, and to the Indies he was going, 
though they were ten thousand miles away. 

The ships kept on their course, but Magellan found that 
the fears of the sailors were by no means groundless. Food 
became scarcer and scarcer, and sure enough, before land 
was reached, the men, in order to get a little nourishment for 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 







> '7^''^ P ^ C I F J C V^"'"'<-^y vSanLucar]^ 







P. o/yf- 

Good Uopi' OCEAN 






Magellan's Voyage Around the Globe 

their starving bodies, gnawed the very hides that covered the 
ropes of the rigging. After a voyage of terrible suffering, 
MageHan at last (in 1521) reached the Philippine Islands. 
Here he was drawn into a battle with the natives and was 
killed. 

After the death of Magellan a captain was chosen for the 
Victoria — one of the two vessels that still remained — and 
the voyage westward was continued. Having stopped at the 
Moluccas to take on board a cargo of precious stones and 
spices, the Victoria crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the 
Cape of Good Hope, and reached the little harbor of San 
Lucar, in Spain, in September, 1522. Of the two hundred 
and seventy men who had sailed out of that harbor three years 
before only thirty-one returned. But that little group of 
half -starved sailors had made a voyage almost as important 
as the one made by Columbus. They had done what Colum- 
bus had tried to do and failed : they had reached the far East 
by sailing toward the west. And they had done another thing 
that had never before been done by man: they had sailed en- 
tirely around the globe. 

Spanish Explorers in North America. About the time 
Magellan was on his voyage around the world, great things 
were beginning to happen in the New World. In 15 19 Her- 
nando Cortes, a dashing Spanish commander, conquered 
Mexico ; and a dozen years later another Spaniard, Fran- 
cisco Pizarro, overran and plundered the rich and populous 



SPANISH VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS 23 

country of Peru. These men were in pursuit of gold, and it 
would be interesting to follow them and learn how they be- 
came masters of great heaps of gold, rooms full of gold, ships 
laden with gold; but our story takes us in a different direc- 
tion : we must learn what was happening within the borders 
of our own country. 

The Spaniards, in their search for trade and for gold, looked 
northward as well as southward. In 15 13 Ponce de Leon, 
a man who had come out with Columbus on his second voyage 
and who was no longer young, sailed from Porto Rico for 
a region where he had heard there was not only gold, but 
something far more precious than gold ; he had heard that in 
this region there was a stream that would give endless youth 
to those who drank of its waters. While looking for this 
stream he landed on a coast where the flowers were very beau- 
tiful, and he called the country Florida — the Land of Flowers. 
He wandered through Florida, bathing in every stream and 
drinking from every spring. The old man did not find ever- 
lasting youth, of course ; but he gave Florida to Spain. 

In 1539 another seeker after gold appeared on the coast of 
Florida. This was Hernando de Soto, the Governor of Cuba 
and one of the leading men of Spain. De Soto landed at 
Tampa Bay with an army of six hundred men, and marched 
northward through the dense woods of Florida. When he 
reached what is now northern Alabama he turned westward 
and followed a zigzag course until he found himself (in 1541) 
Qn the shores of the Mississippi — the Father of W'aters. On 
his march he had lost many of his men, for the Indians along 
his path regarded him as a cruel enemy and they had done him 
all the harm they could. On reaching the Mississippi, De Soto 
fell sick of a fever and died. He was buried in the middle of 
the great river he had discovered. His followers, without any 
gold in their hands, made their way back to Cuba. 

At the very time De Soto was marching westward toward 
the Mississippi, in the far-off plains of what is now New 
Mexico there was another Spaniard tramping eastward. This 
was Coronado, in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola. These 



24 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Explorations of Ponce de Leon, De Soto, and Coronado 

cities were described to the Spaniards as being the richest 
and most beautiful in the world; they were said to contain 
an untold amount of gold and silver ; and to be situated in a 
country where the rivers were six miles wide and where the 
fishes were as big as horses. It was to find these wonderfu! 
cities that Coronado, in 1540, set out from Mexico. In the 
southern part of what is now New Mexico he found a wretched 
little Indian village where the houses were built of mud. 
This is all that was ever seen of the Seven Cities of Cibola.- 
Coronado, however, did not give up the search until he had 
pushed eastward as far as the plains of what is now the State 
of Kansas. If he had gone a little farther " he might have 
shaken hands with De Soto and with him wept tears of dis- 
appointment," for Coronado's hands, as well as De Soto's, were 
empty of gold. 

Spanish Claims to the New World ; the ' ' Line of Demar- 
cation. " Although these adventurers found no gold, they did 
much to build up the Spanish power in the New World. By 
virtue of their explorations and conquests, Spain laid claim 



SPANISH VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS 



25 





to all of North America and to a large part of South xA.merica. 
The part of South America not taken by Spain was claimed 
by Portugal. For in 1494 Spain 
and Portugal made a treaty agree- 
ing that a meridian 370 leagues 
west of the Cape Verde Islands 
should be known as the " Line 
of Demarcation," and that all 
" heathen lands " east of that line 
should belong to Portugal, while all 
heathen lands west of the line 
should belong to Spain. Since 
Brazil was east of the line, it was ^he Line of Demarcation 
claimed by Portugal. So at the end of the fifteenth century 
every foot of the Western World, excepting only Brazil, was 
claimed by Spain. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of Balboa and the discovery of the Pacific. 

2. By what routes did Magellan undertake to sail to the Molucca 
Islands? Give a full account of the great voyage. 

3. Tell the story of Cortes and Pizarro ; of Ponce de Leon ; of De 
Soto ; of Coronado. 

4. What part of the New World was claimed by Spain ? What was 
the "Line of Demarcation"? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : ^ 1492, 1497. 

2. Persons : ^ Henry the Navigator, Columbus, Americus Vespu- 
cius. 

3. Reading References : 

(i) Spanish Exploration: Lawler, 67-93. 

(2) Magellan's Voyage : Lawler, 94-144. 

(3) In Early Mexico: Explorers and Settlers, 111-115. 

(4) Some Early Voyagers : Explorers and Settlers, 57-63. 

1 Give an important event connected with each date. 

2 Tell something very important about each person. 



V 

ENGLAND BECOMES MISTRESS OF THE SEAS 

Thus far we have seen Spain leading in the new,ly discovered 
world. It was Spain that sent out Columbus and Magellan ; it 
was a Spaniard who stood in the waters of the Paicific and took 
possession of the great ocean in the name of his King; they were 
Spanish generals who conquered the West Indies and Mexico and 
the greater part of South America ; they were Spanish explorers 
who' first made their way into the wild regions of North America. 
No wonder Spain thought the New World belonged almost entirely 
to herself. But she could not hold America without a struggle. 
Other nations of Europe, as we shall now learn, were bound to 
come forward and dispute her claims. 

England Claims a Part of the New World. The country 
that was to give Spain the most trouble in the New World 
was England. When the news of the successful voyage of 
Columbus reached the little island nation, Henry VII, its 
King, like the other rulers of his time, began to think of the 
riches that might come to him from the new-found lands. So 
when John Cabot, a native of Venice, in 1496 applied to King 
Henry for permission to fit out a ship for a voyage to the 
New World, the permission was cheerfully given. Cabot 
set out from Bristol, and " in the year of our Lord 1497 dis- 
covered that land which no man before that time had at- 
tempted, on the 24th of June, about five o'clock in the morn- 
ing." " That land " may have been Newfoundland or Cape 
Breton, or it may have been some point on the mainland of 
North America. The region discovered by Cabot was cold 
and barren, and was without gold or silver or riches of any 
kind. Cabot took possession of the country in the name of 
England, and the thrifty King gave him fifty dollars as a re- 
ward. 

France Claims a Part of the New World. France also 
desired a part of the New World. In 1534 the King of France, 
snapping his fingers at the claims of the King of Spain, or- 

26 



ENGLAND BECOMES MISTRESS OF THE SEAS 27 

dered Jacques Cartier to sail up the St. Lawrence River and 
take possession of the country along its banks. This Cartier 
did in 1535, but he made no permanent settlement. 

About thirty years after the voyage of Cartier, some Hugue- 
nots — French Protestants — made a settlement at the mouth 
of the St. John's River in Florida. The King of Spain con- 
sidered that the French had no right to trespass upon Florida. 
So he sent a great force of ships and men against the French 
settlement, and it was wiped from the face of the earth. 
About forty miles down the coast the Spaniards themselves 
made a settlement (in 1565) and called it St. Augustine — 
the oldest city built by white men in what is now the United 
States. 

England Strengthens Her Navy. After the voyage of 
Cabot the English sent no more ships to America for many 
years. And they had good reason for not sending any. In 
the early part of the sixteenth century Spain had a very power- 
ful navy and England had a very weak one. If England in 
the days of Columbus and Henry VII had sent out ships to 
the New World, Spain would have swept them from the 
sea ; and if the English had tried at that time to make settle- 
ments on the coast of America, the Spaniards would have at- 
tacked the settlements and destroyed them, as they destroyed 
the little French settlement in Florida. England wanted to 
share in the prizes of the New World, but she saw clearly that 
she could make no headway there unless she had a strong 
navy. So she made her ships larger and stronger, she manned 
them with well trained crews, and she armed them with heavy 
guns. In this way she soon came to have as good a navy 
as any nation of Europe, and by the end of the sixteenth 
century many fierce battles had shown that England and not 
Spain was mistress of the ocean. 

Daring Deeds of Sir Francis Drake. Many were the brave 
seamen who helped to build up the navy of England and beat 
down the navy of Spain, but the bravest and greatest of all 
was Sir Francis Drake. The story of the deeds of this mighty 
man would fill a large book, and all we can do here is to get 



28 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



a glimpse of him as he 
hurried over the world 
in pursuit of the Span- 
iards, sinking their 
ships, taking from them 
their gold, and plun- 
dering their towns. 
While yet a young man 
he was already so fa- 
mous that once, when 
he sailed into Plymouth 
(England) on a Sun- 
day morning at sermon 
time, the people left the 
preacher alone in the 
pulpit while they ran 
to the wharf to see 
the man who had 
dealt Spain such heavy 
blows. 

In 1577 Drake, start- 
ing from England, 
passed through the 
Strait of Magellan and sailed along the western coast of South 
America to Peru, where he plundered some Spanish ships of 
gold and silver amounting to three millions of dollars. From 
Peru he sailed northward along the western coast of America 
until he came to what is now called California, which he called 
New Albion. From California he sped west to England by 
the Cape of Good Hope. He had sailed around the world, 
something no Englishman had ever before done. 

Destruction of the " Invincible Armada." But the 
greatest day in Drake's life was when, in his ship Revenge, he 
led the attack against the Spanish Armada. This was an 
enormous fleet of 130 vessels and 30,000 men, which Spain 
had fitted out with the aim of giving a death-blow to Eng- 
land's navy and to England herself. This Invincible Ar- 




The Discoveries of Cabot and Cartier 



ENGLAND BECOMES MISTRESS OF THE SEAS 29 

mada, as it was called, met Drake and Hawkins and Howard 
and the other " sea-dogs "'of England in the English Channel 
in May, 1588. The fighting was furious, but Drake and his 
companions won. Many of the Spanish ships were destroyed, 
and those that escaped were soon afterward lost in a terrible 
storm. The defeat of the Armada was the greatest event in 
the history of England. 

England Undertakes to Plant Colonies in America. Why 
did the defeat of the Spanish Armada mean so much to Eng- 
land? Because, with the Spanish ships at the bottom of the 
sea, England could send her navy across the ocean and plant 
colonies on the coast of America in peace and safety. In- 
deed, she had begun to make settlements on that coast even 
before the great battle in the Channel was fought. In 1583 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert left England with five vessels and a 
large number of men, with the purpose of planting a colony 
somewhere in the New World; but one disaster after another 
overtook the fleet, and in the end Gilbert himself was lost. 
One night, in a heavy storm, the light on his ship went out, 
and he and his crew were never heard from more. 

The work begun by Gilbert was taken up and carried for- 
ward by his half-brother. Sir Walter Raleigh. This noble- 
man was a favorite of Elizabeth, the Queen, who gladly helped 
him with his plans. In 1585 Raleigh sent out to America 
about one hundred men under Ralph Lane to plant a colony 
on the coast of what is now North Carolina. Elizabeth, who 
never married, suggested that the colony be called Virginia 
in honor of her own maiden life, and Virginia it was called. 
Lane settled on Roanoke Island ; but his colony did not flourish, 
and. after a year of misfortunes, he and his men were carried 
back to England by Drake, who happened to stop at the island 
on one of his homeward voyages. 

Raleigh was deeply in earnest about his plans for America, 
and, in the face of many discouragements, sent out (in 1587) 
a second colony to Roanoke, with John White as Governor. 
This time there were women and children as well as men among 



30 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




The Great Harry, an English Fighting Ship of the Sixteenth Century 

the colonists. Governor White soon returned to England to 
get more colonists and fresh supplies of food. He left be- 
hind him a daughter, Eleanor Dare, and a new-born grand- 
child, Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents 
on American soil. White never saw his family or his colony 
again. When he returned three years later, not a soul of all 
the colonists was found. What became of them nobody knows. 
Raleigh could now go no further with his plan of making 
settlements in the New World, for enemies were crowding 
around him, and it was all he could do to save his life. At 



ENGLAND BECOMES MISTRESS OF THE SEAS 31 

last he could not even do this ; for in 1618, when Elizabeth, his 
best friend, was dead, he was beheaded on a false charge of 
treason by order of King James. He died as bravely as a 
great man ought. As he was about to lay his head on the 
block, he felt the edge of the ax, and said, with a smile: 
*' This is sharp medicine, but it will cure all diseases." 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What important voyage and discovery was made by John Cabot? 

2. What parts of the New World were claimed by France? 

3. Why did England in the sixteenth century increase her navy? 

4. Tell the story of Sir Francis Drake and his daring deeds. 

5. Give an account of the destruction of the Invincible Armada. 

6. What attempt at colonization was made by Sir Humphrey Gilbert? 
What attempts were made by Sir Walter Raleigh? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1492, 1522. 

2. Persons : Henry the Navigator, Columbus, Americus Vespucius, 
Balboa, Magellan, De Soto. 

3. Tell what you can about : The " Line of Demarcation." 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects; ^ European Background; Discovery 
and Exploration ; The Claims of Different Nations at Different Times. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Drake's Own Account of His Great Voyage; Hart, 9-11. 
(2) The Spanish Armada: Explorers and Settlers, 68-77. 

(3) Anecdotes of Raleigh and Gilbert: Explorers and Set- 
tlers, 78-83. 

(4) Sir Walter Raleigh : Eggleston, 14-20. 

(5) The Lost Colony: Explorers and Settlers, 156-161. 

(6) Read in the class : Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Lane and 
Hill, 22-24. 

1 To the pupil: At the end of the book (Appendix IV) you will find 
an outline for these reviews. When a review of a great subject is 
asked for, it is to be carried forward only as far in the book as you 
have studied. Master these reviews in the beginning and maintain 
the mastery of them as you advance. If you will master them to the 
end you will be richly repaid for your labor. 



VI 

OUR COUNTRY ABOUT THE YEAR 1600 

Raleigh began a work that was to be carried forward. In 1600 
the day was not far distant when Englishmen were to come to 
America in large numbers, and were coming to stay. Let us take 
a look at the country that was to be first theirs and afterward ours. 
Let us try to form in our minds a picture of our country as it was 
three hundred years ago. 

The Forests. In the first place, our country in 1600 was 
one vast forest. From the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 
the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico it was trees, trees, 
trees. It is true that there were here and there little clearings 
where Indians raised corn, and in the western and south- 
western country there were treeless regions (prairies) and 
arid mountains and plains ; but, taken as a whole, the country 
was covered with trees, with great pines and poplars and 
oaks and walnuts and chestnuts and elms. So if you want 
a correct idea of how our country looked to the first settlers, 
shut your eyes upon the cities and towns and well tilled fields 
and well built roads of to-day, and think of great, dense, dark 
woods. 

Indian Trails and Rivers of the New World. In the next 
place, our country in 1600 was without roads. There were 
paths (trails) made by Indians and bufifaloes, but these were 
so narrow that in the forests not even a horse with a pack 
of furs on its back could get along. These trails, however, 
were the beginnings of roads for the white man. They were 
first widened so that a horse with a pack could travel over 
them. Then they were widened still further so that wagons 
and carts could pass over them. Later these trails were fol- 
lowed when building some of our great railroads. So when 
you are flying across the country in an express train you 

32 



OUR COUNTRY ABOUT THE YEAR 1600 33 

may be following a path that was made ages ago by the 
buffalo and the Indian. But at present, while you are trying 
to get an idea of how our country looked in 1600, do not 
think of railroads and well built highways and well paved 
streets, but try to think of a country that had no roads at all. 

The only roads the early settlers found were the water- 
roads — the rivers. But the system of waterways that lay 
before the colonists was the finest in the world. Look at a 
good river map of the United States, and observe how per- 
fect is its network of rivers. Observe how the branches of 
the Potomac touch fingers with the branches of the Ohio, and 
how the branches of the Missouri touch fingers with the 
branches of the Columbia, thus forming an almost unbroken 
waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Observe, too, 
how the rivers flowing into Lake Erie and Lake Michigan 
extend almost to the sources of the rivers that empty into 
the Ohio and Mississippi, thus forming an almost unbroken 
waterway from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The 
early colonists had no railroads or broad, well built highways, 
but the grand system of water-roads that is ours was also 
theirs. 

Fishes, Birds, and Animals of the New World. The 
L^nited States, then, in 1600 was a vast roadless forest through 
which flowed hundreds, yes, thousands of rivers. On the sur- 
face of the rivers could be seen Indians darting along in their 
light birch-bark canoes. In the rivers there were many kinds 
of fish — perch and pike, trout, shad, salmon, and bass. In 
the forests were many kinds of birds — great eagles, hawks, 
owls, wild turkeys, and pigeons. The wild turkey was excel- 
lent food, and it sometimes weighed as much as fifty pounds, 
The flocks of pigeons were sometimes so great that they dark- 
ened the sky when flying and broke down the limbs of trees 
when they alighted. In the forests also were wild animals 
in abundance. In the woods along the Atlantic coast were 
rabbits, squirrels, foxes, beavers, raccoons, opossum, deer, 
wolves, bears. Farther inland the animals were even larger 
and more numerous. It is said that a traveler standing 



34 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



on a hill in the far West once saw at one time a buffalo, an 
elk, an antelope, and a panther — a small menagerie in it- 
self. Fur-bearing animals were found almost everywhere, 
and the farther north the hunter went the better he found 

the furs. The most im- 
portant of all the ani- 
mals was the bison, or 
buffalo, great herds of 
which roamed over the 
region between the Alle- 
ghanies and the Rockies. 
Indians. But the most 
important inhabitant of 
the forest was the In- 
dian. You remember 
how Columbus on his 
first voyage found red 
men, and by mistake (p. 
17) gave them the 
name of Indian, a name 
that has clung to them 
ever since. The Span- 
An Indian Village iards found Indians in 

South America and Mexico ; De Soto found them in Florida ; 
Cartier found them in Canada ; and Englishmen found them 
all along the Atlantic coast. They were not always in great 
numbers, but they were always present ; wherever the white 
man went, there was the Indian standing across his path. 

The Indians of North America were for the most part wild 
and uncivilized. They lived in huts (wigwams) made of 
skins or bark stretched over frames of wood. The Iroquois 
Indians — a tribe occupying the region afterward known 
as New York — lived in what were known as "long houses." 
The " long house " was a long, low house in which lived 
twenty or thirty families, each family occupying its own 
apartment. 

Government among the I-ndians was conducted by tribes. A 




OUR COUNTRY ABOUT THE YEAR 1600 35 

number of families related by blood would join together to 
form a clan, and a number of clans would join to form a 
tribe. The tribe was governed by a chief and a council of 
wise men. 

The religion of the Indian consisted in a worship of the 




The Buffalo 

world of nature around him. He saw God in the flowing 
river, in the sunshine and in the storm. His heaven was a 
happy hunting-ground where, with his dog and his bow and 
arrow, he could hunt forever. 

The Indians lived chiefly by hunting and fishing, although 
they did a little farming, and raised beans, tobacco, pumpkins, 
potatoes, and, most important of all, corn. The women did the 
housework and tilled the soil, while the men did the hunting 
and fighting. 

As a hunter the Indian had wonderful skill and power. 
He could run almost as fast as a deer, and he could rival the 
bloodhound in keeping close on the trail of his victim. He 
could imitate the gobble of the wild turkey, the whistle of 
birds, or the bark of the wolf. When he advanced upon his 
prey, it was with a tread as quiet and as soft as that of a cat 
advancing upon a bird ; but when he sprang upon his victim, 
it was with the strength and the wildness of a panther. 

In war the Indian was the most terrible of foes. As long as 



36 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Games of the Indian Youths 

he smoked the pipe of peace he was gentle and kind ; but when 
the peace-pipe was broken and his war blood was stirred he 
was as wild and cruel as the beasts in the forests around him. 
Indeed, he was more cruel than these beasts ; for the brute is 
satisfied if it simply kills its enemy, but the Indian felt that 
he must torture his enemy as well as kill him. He would 
carve a captive alive or slowly burn him to death, and dance 
for joy as he beheld the agonies of his dying foe. Such 
was the red man whom the white man had to face wherever 
he went in the new-found world. 

The New World a Place for Labor; Hardships. You 
ought now to see clearly that our country in 1600 was a place 
in which a great deal of hard work was to be done. If the 
land was to be made fit for tillage, the vast forests would 
have to be cleared, and the settler's ax must swing from 
morning to night all the year round. Besides, roads must be 
opened, dwellings must be erected, and mills and stores and 
workshops must be buiU. It ought to be clear also that Hfe 



OUR COUNTRY ABOUT THE YEAR 1600 37 

in our country in 1600 meant hardships and much suffering. 
There could be no comfort as long as there were no houses 
or roads, and until the fields began to yield their crops there 
was always the risk of not having enough food to eat. Then 
there were the enemies of the forest, panthers, bears, wolves, 
Indians : these were bound to fill the life of the settler with 
danger. America in 1600 was, therefore, no place for idlers, 
or for those who loved their ease, or for cowards. It was 
for those who were willing to work hard and to face all kinds 
of hardships and danger. It was a place to be won by those 
who could use an ax and spade and plow as well as the rifle 
and sword. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. To what extent was our country originally a forest? 

2. Give an account of the Indian trails ; of the rivers. 

3. What fishes, birds, and animals were plentiful in America three 
hundred years ago? 

4. How did it happen that the red men of America were called In- 
dians ? To what extent did Indians abound in the New World ? 
Describe the houses of the Indians; their government; their religion; 
their occupations; their hunting; their warfare. 

5. Why was the New World no place for idlers or cowards? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1522, 1588. 

2. Persons: Henry the Navigator, Columbus, Americus Vespucius, 
Balboa, Magellan, De Soto, Cabot, Drake, Raleigh. 

3. Tell what you can about : the " Line of Demarcation " ; the In- 
vincible Armada. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Claims of Different Nations at 
Different Times ; Indians and Indian Wars ; English Colonization. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Indian Life: Hart, 23-26. 

(2) How the Indians Lived : Eggleston, 69-78. 

(3) How the Indian Children Played: Explorers and Set- 
tlers, 116-121. 

(4) The Character and Customs of the Indians : Parkman, 
460-472. 

(5) Read in the class: Hiawatha: Lane and Hill, 48-50. 



VII 

AROUND THE CHESAPEAKE BAY 

Spain. France, Holland. Sweden, and England all wanted a share 
of the great American wilderness, and all joined in a scramble to 
get possession of the Atlantic coast of North America. Early in 
the seventeenth century three of these nations, England, France, 
and Holland, almost at the same moment sprang forward to secure 
a permanent foothold on the American coast. Since in this race 
for empire England led the way, let us first learn of the coming 
of the English. 

English Background of American Colonization. There 
were several reasons why England at the opening of the 
seventeenth century was eager to plant colonies in America. 
In the first place, at that time there were a great many poor 
people in England who were out of employment and who were 
forced to live in idleness and to beg for a living. These were 
only too willing to go to America. Again, there were many 
rich men in England who had money to invest in new enter- 
prises, and these were only too walling to furnish the money 
that was necessary to fit out a body of colonists with supplies 
and transport them across the seas. Then, too, it was the 
hope of England that by planting colonies she would be able 
to increase her trade. English-manufactured goods, it was 
thought, could be sold in the colonies for raw material, such 
as lumber, iron ore, and copper. So, when the seventeenth 
century opened, conditions in England were more favorable 
to schemes of colonization than they had been at any previous 
time. 

English Settlements Along the Atlantic Coast. In their 
plans for extending trade and planting colonies Englishmen 
were ready to carry their flag to the most distant parts of the 
earth. In 1600 Queen Elizabeth granted a charter to the 

.38 



AROUND THE CHESAPEAKE BAY 39 

East India Company and thus laid the foundation of English 
power in the far East. A few years later Englishmen re- 
newed their attempts to plant colonies along the Atlantic coast, 
and at last met with success. 

The early English settlements were made close to the ocean. 
Of the thirteen colonies that became States, each had its be- 
ginning on some bay or river or sound where there was a good 
chance for trading in furs ; for you are to learn that furs 
have played an important part in the history of our country. 
New Hampshire had its beginnings on the Piscataqua River ; 
Massachusetts, around the Massachusetts Bay ; Rhode Island, 
around Narragansett Bay ; Connecticut, along the Connecticut 
River ; New York and New Jersey, around New York Bay ; 
Delaware and Pennsylvania, around the Delaware Bay ; Mary- 
land and Virginia, around the Chesapeake Bay ; North Carolina, 
on the Albemarle Sound ; South Carolina at the mouth of the 
Ashley River ; and Georgia, at the mouth of the Savannah 
River. 

First English Settlement in America. The first English 
settlement in America was made around what was called 
" the finest bay in the world." In 1607 about a hundred 
colonists from London settled on an island a few miles from 
the mouth of a river that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. This 
settlement was called Jamestown, in honor of James I, King 
of England, and the river was called James River. The James- 
town colonists were sent out by a company of London mer- 
chants who had obtained from the King a charter giving them 
the right to make settlements on the American coast anywhere 
between Cape Fear and the Potomac River, a region that was 
already known as Virginia. 

As soon as the Virginia colonists landed they began to pre- 
pare for the new and strange kind of life that was before 
them. They at once built a rude fort in order that they might 
defend themselves against attack by the Indians who were 
lurking in the woods around them. They provided themselves 
with a church by nailing a board between two trees for a 
pulpit and stretching a piece of canvas overhead for a roof. 



40 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



I.'or dwellings they either built log cabins or dug themselves 
caves. They raised chickens, and where they found a little 
patch of clear ground they planted corn. 




The Building of Jamestown 

Captain John Smith. The colonists at first did not know 
how to live in the strange Xew World, and they could learn 
how to do so only by experience, and a sad experience it was. 
Suffering and starvation overtook them, and it seemed that 
the little settlement would be lost. But it was saved by the 
wisdom and firmness of Captain John Smith, who, by the 
consent of all, was chosen to direct the affairs of the colony. 

Smith was a man of bold and venturous spirit and was at 
the same time a man of excellent sense and judgment. While 
at the head of the colony he managed its affairs wisely. Many 
of the colonists were gentlemen who were not accustomed to 
work, and many were worthless fellows who were too lazy to 
work. Smith saw clearly that the Xew World was no place 
for drones or idlers, and told the colonists plainly that every- 
body must work and that anybody who did not work should 
not eat. That had an excellent effect. Fine gentlemen be- 
gan to chop wood, and idlers began digging the ground. Be- 



AROUND THE CHESAPEAKE BAY 41 

sides teaching the colonists to work. Smith did much to keep 
peace between the white men and the Indians. He visited the 
Indians in their wigwams and traded with them, giving them 
beads and trinkets and knives for the corn that was so much 
needed. 

In 1609 Smith met with an accident, and was so severely- 
wounded that he had to return to England for treatment. He 
took- with him some flying-squirrels for the amusement of 
King James. The colony lost its best friend when it lost 
Smith, and it soon felt this loss most keenly. 

The Starving Time; Arrival of Delawarr. In less than a 
year after the departure of Smith the people were again starv- 
ing. This time the suffering was so very horrible that you 
would not wish to read a description of it. Things became 
so bad that the few settlers who were still alive decided to re- 
turn to England. With heavy hearts they bade farewell to 
Jamestown and started on their homeward voyage ; but as 
they neared the sea they met Lord Delawarr, their new Gov- 
ernor, coming to the relief of the colony with three ships 
laden with provisions. The colonists returned to their de- 
serted homes, and the settlement was never again abandoned. 
With the founding of Jamestown the English had come to 
America to stay. 

Cultivation of Tobacco. Lord Delawarr soon resigned 
as Governor, and Sir Thomas Dale was chosen in his stead. 
Under the firm hand of Dale, Jamestown took on new life. 
The settlers were given land of their own to till, and after 
each man began to till his own field there was always plenty 
of food. In 1612 John Rolfe, who married the Indian maiden 
Pocahontas, began to raise tobacco and send it to England, 
where it brought a very high price. The cultivation of this 
weed proved to be so profitable that nearly every colonist be- 
came a tobacco-grower. Even the gardens and streets of 
Jamestown were planted with tobacco. 

First American Legislature. \\'hen it was learned in Eng- 
land that money could be made in Virginia by raising tobacco, 
settlers came over in greater numbers, and new settlements 



42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

sprang up along the James River. By 1619 there were so 
many people in the colony that it was necessary to have a 
new form of government. In this year the people chose 
representatives to meet in the church at Jamestown and make 
laws for the colony. This House of Burgesses, as it was 
called, was the first American legislature. 

In choosing men to represent them in the House of Bur- 
gesses the Virginia planters took the first step in establishing 
representative government in America, and at the same time 
began to learn a most important lesson in Americanism. For 




Jamestown and Vicinity 

Americans have always been accustomed to manage public 
affairs through the action of their chosen representatives. 
In colonial times the people elected representatives to do the 
work of government, and by the time we became a nation it 
seemed that a natural way of conducting political affairs was 
to have a representative government. Americans therefore 
love representative government: for, with Thomas Jefferson' 
they beheve that it -produces the greatest sum of happiness 
to mankind. 

Beginning of Slavery in Virginia. When choosing repre- 
senta.ucs f„r the House of Burgesses every freema^ had a 



AROUND THE CHESAPEAKE BAY 43 

vote. Unfortunately, however, all men in Virginia were not 
to be free ; for, in the very year in which free government 
was established in the colony, twenty negroes were brought 
to Jamestown in a Dutch vessel and sold into servitude. No- 
body thought there was any harm in this, for at that time 
negroes all over the world were bought and sold very much as 
horses were bought and sold. The negroes proved to be 
just the kind of workmen needed for the tobacco-fields, and 
in time slave labor was regularly employed on the Virginia 
plantations. 

The little colony at Jamestown was now (1619) fairly 
firm on its feet. It was growing in population and wealth, 
and it was making laws for governing its own people. The 
Virginians could well be proud of the colony for which they 
had labored so hard and suffered so much ; for Jamestown 
was the first permanent English settlement in the New World, 
and it was the beginning of the United States. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Why did England wish to plant colonies in America? 

2. Tell the story of the settlement of Jamestown. 

3. Give an account of the services of Captain John Smith. 

4. Why did the colonists decide to return to England? What caused 
them to remain at Jamestown? 

5. Give an account of the beginning of tobacco-growing in Vir- 
ginia. 

6. When and where did the first law-making body meet? What 
lesson in Americanism was learned in the Virginia colony? 

7. Give an account of the beginning of slavery in Virginia. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1492, 1522, 1588. 

2. Persons : Balboa, Mag|ellan, De Soto, Cabot, Drake, Raleigh. 

3. Tell what you can about : The " Line of Demarcation " ; the In- 
vincible Armada. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects; European Background; English 
Colonization; Discovery and Exploration; Indians and Indian Wars. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The English Poor: McLaughlin, 5-6. 
(2) Jamestown: Eggleston, 26-32; Explorers and Settlers, 
145-155. 



VIII 

ALONG THE ST. LAWRENCE AND AROUND NEW 
YORK BAY 

The English had hardly begun their settlement around the Chesa- 
peake Bay before the French began to settle on the banks of the 
St Lawrence and the Dutch around New York Bay. So we must 
now learn of the coming of the French and of the Dutch. 

Along the St. Lawrence River: Quebec. While England 
was gaining control of the Atlantic coast, France was estab- 
lishing her power along the St. Lawrence River. We have 
seen (p. 2-]) that Cartier at a very early date visited the 
St. Lawrence region and claimed it for France. But Cartier 
made no permanent settlement. The real founder of what 
is now called Canada was Samuel de Champlain. In 1608 — 
only a year after the settlement of Jamestown — Champlain 
planted the French flag on the rock of Quebec and began 
in earnest the work of extending the French power in the 
New World. From Quebec as their base the French pushed 
their explorations in almost every direction. By 161 5 Cham- 
jjlain had made his way in person as far as the shores of Lake 
Huron, and before he died (in 1635) the French power had 
been established in the far-off wilds of Michigan and Wis- 
consin. 

But the French did not lay the foundations of their power 
in America deeply and strongly, as did the English. They 
did not bring their families with them ; they cleared off but 
few forests ; they tilled but few fields ; they built no large 
towns. Their purpose in America was to accomplish three 
things : ( i ) to add to the glory of France by causing her flag 
to wave over new places; (2) to convert the Indians to the 
Christian religion; (3) to carry on a profitable trade in furs. 
For manufacturing and farming they cared very little. When 

44 



ALONG THE ST. LAWRENCE 



45 



they built a fort the Indians 
were given to understand 
that no trees would be cut 
down and that no fields 
would be planted. This 
was good for the Indians, 
for it left them their hunt- 
ing-grounds ; but it was bad 
for the French, for it made 
it impossible for them to 
carry on the occupation of 
farming, the very occupa- 
tion that was necessary 
for a healthy and steady 
growth. Without exten- 
sive farming large numbers 
of people in the New World 
cculd not be fed and large 
communities could not be 
built up. All the French 
settlements were small 
places. Even Quebec, the 
oldest and largest town, a 
hundred years after it was 
founded was a mere village. 
Champlain and the Iro- 
quois Indians. As a rule 
the French treated the In- 
dians v^^ell and lived on 
friendly terms with them. 




Early Settlements in New York and 
New Jersey 

But between the French and the 
Iroquois Indians (p. 34) there arose a deadly and lasting en- 
mity. This was caused by a skirmish that took place between 
Champlain and the Iroquois near what is now called Ticon- 
deroga. In this skirmish Champlain blazed away with his 
gun, and two poor savages dropped dead. This frightened the 
others so badly that they took to their heels. 



46 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Champlain won the victory, but it was a costly one ; for after 
that battle on the shore of Lake Champlain the Iroquois be- 
came the bitter enemies of the French, and did them all the 
harm they could. They prevented the French from extend- 
ing their power southward into what is now the State of New 
York and thus deprived them of a large stretch of beautiful 
country and cut them off from a very profitable trade in furs. 

Hudson's Voyage up the Hudson River. Almost at the 
very moment that Champlain was in the neighborhood of Ti- 
conderoga, fighting with the Iroquois and making enemies of 
them, Henry Hudson, an English navigator in the service 
of the Dutch, was a few miles away trading with the Iroquois, 
entertaining them in royal fashion and thus making friends 
of them. In 1609 Hudson entered New York Bay in his ship, 
the Half Moon, and sailed up the magnificent river that bears 
his name. 

Hudson, like Columbus and many others, believed that 
there was a short western route to India, and he thought 
that by following the course of the Hudson River he would be 
able to reach the Pacific Ocean. He went up the river to the 
point where the city of Troy now stands, and there his boat 
ran aground. He failed, of course, to reach the Pacific by 
way of the Hudson, but his voyage up the river was one of 
great importance. For on that voyage he traded with the 
Indians and secured a good load of furs ; and, what was more 
important, he secured the friendship and good will of the 
red men. 

New Netherland. Another important result of Hudson's 
voyage was to cause Holland to begin settlements around New 
York Hay and along the Hudson River. Hudson told the 
people of Holland that this region was as fair a land as 
ever was trod by the foot of man, and he told them also of 
the great opportunity there was in the region for trading in 
furs. The Dutch were a great commercial people, and they 
made haste to establish fur-trading stations along the Hudson. 
In 16 1 3 they began to build huts on Manhattan Island for 
the storage of furs. The next year a trading station 



was 



ALONG THE ST. LAWRENCE 



47 



built far up the Hudson, near the point where Albany now 
is, and this fur-trading station was the beginning of that 
cluster of busy cities and towns that stand close to where the 
Mohawk flows into the Hudson — Albany, Cohoes, Troy, 
Schenectady. 

In 1623 the Dutch sent out colonists to make a permanent 
settlement in the region visited by Hudson. The name of 




New Amsterdam Between 1630 and 1640 
From a Dutch book. Thought to be the oldest picture of what is now New York 

this colony was New Netherland. The Dutch claimed for 
New Netherland all the territory between the Hudson and 
the Delaware, and they made settlements at several different 
places on both these rivers. 

The Patroons. The Dutch people were glad to carry on 
trade in New Netherland, but they did not care to go there to 
live. They were happy in their peaceful homes in Holland. 
The great forests and the wild Indians of America had few 
charms for them. In order to attract settlers, the trading 
company that owned New Netherland established the patroon 
system. It provided that any member of the company who 
would bring over fifty settlers should have an immense estate 



48 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

on the banks of the Hudson. The patroon (owner) was 
to be the lord of the estate and the ruler of the people on it. 
Under the patroon system the people had no voice whatever 
in matters of government. The patroon was a petty king, 
and the people on his estate were little better than slaves. 
New Amsterdam. Tn 1626 a great trading company in Am- 
sterdam, Holland, sent out Peter Minuit to act as Governor 
of a settlement to be made on Manhattan Island at the mouth 
of the Hudson. Minuit bought the island from the Indians 
for twenty- four dollars' worth of beads and ribbons. He 
at once built a fort and began the work of settlement. The 
place was called New Amsterdam. Since it had one of the 
finest harbors in the world and was an excellent trading sta- 
tion, New Amsterdam drew merchants from all parts of 
Europe, and very soon became one of the busiest towns on 
the American coast. Thus New Amsterdam was the most im- 
portant place in New Netherland, and was the center of Dutch 
life in America. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of the founding of Quebec. What did the French 
colonists wish to do? Why did the French colonies grow so slowly 
in population? 

2. Describe Champlain's skirmish with the Iroquois. What was the 
result of this conflict? 

3. Tell the story of Hudson's voyage up the Hudson River. 

4. Give an account of the settlement of New Netherland. 

5. Describe the patroon system. 

6. Give the early history of New Amsterdam. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1522, 1588, 1607. 

2. Persons: John Smith, Drake, Henry the Navigator. 

3. Tell what you can about the Invincible Armada. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Discovery and Exploration; The 
French in North America ; The Claims of Different Nations at Differ- 
ent Times; Indians and Indian Wars. 

5. Reading References: 

(i) The Founding of Quebec: Parkman, 88-95. 

(2) Champlain and the Iroquois : Parkman, 96-106. 

(3) The Coming of the Dutch: Eggleston, 47-52. 

(4) Old Dutch Times in New York: Explorers and Set^ 
tiers, 171-184. 



IX 

AROUND MASSACHUSETTS BAY AND ALONG THE 
PISCATAQUA RIVER 

The Dutch claimed all the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to the 
Delaware River ; but England also claimed this part of the coast. 
Even before the fort at New Amsterdam was finished, Englishmen 
were planting colonies in New England on land claimed by the 
Dutch. We shall now have an account of three of these New 
England colonies — Plymouth, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. 

The Pilgrims in England and Holland. Just about the 
time Henry Hudson, with his crew of Dutchmen, was sail- 
ing (in 1609) up the Hudson River in the Half Moon, a little 
band of Englishmen from the village of Scrooby, in Notting- 
hamshire, was slowly making its way in a canal-boat to the 
city of Leyden, Holland. 

These pilgrims in a foreign land had left their pleasant 
homes because they wanted to worship God in their own way, 
and in England they were not allowed to do this. They 
wanted the privilege of choosing their own pastor and of con- 
ducting the services of their church in a plain, simple manner. 
They had asked the King (James I) to grant them freedom in 
matters of worship, but the King told them that they would 
have to attend the Church of England and would have to obey 
the rules of that church, and he gave them to understand that 
if they disobeyed these rules he would drive them out of his 
kingdom. It was not necessary to drive them out, for they 
left England of their own free will. 

The Pilgrims — as this roving body of church folk is called 
— settled in Leyden, where they could worship as they wished, 
and for a little while they led a happy, contented life. But as 
years passed they found that they were ceasing to be Eng- 
lishmen and were becoming Dutchmen. They w'ere learning 
to follow Dutch customs ; their children were speaking the 

49 



so 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




iAsn. i' 



The Pilgrims Coming Ashore at Plymouth 

Dutch language; and their daughters were marrying Dutch- 
men and were being called by the Dutch names of their hus- 
bands. It was plain that if they remained in Holland they 
would become Dutch in all things. But they still loved Eng- 
land, and their thoughts began to turn to the wilds of America 
as a place where they might enjoy religious freedom and where 
they might live and die as Englishmen. About 1617 they 
began to make plans for leaving Holland, and in July, 1620, 
they bade the country farewell and set out for America. 

Plymouth Colony. They stopped on the way at Southamp- 
ton, in England, where they prepared more fully for the long 
voyage that was before them. On September 16 they em- 
barked on the Mayflower and spread sail for America. On 
board were about a hundred souls. The leaders of the band 
were William Brewster, the preacher ; William Bradford, the 
ruler ; and Miles Standish, the soldier. After a voyage of 
nine weeks the low, sandy shores of Cape Cod came in sight, 
and on the 12th of November the Mayflozver entered what is 
now Provincetown harbor. But this was not a suitable place 



AROUND MASSACHUSETTS BAY 51 

for a settlement, and men were sent out in a light boat, or 
shallop, to look for a better place. A spot where the town of 
Plymouth, Massachusetts, now stands was chosen, and here, on 
the 2 1 St of December, 1620, the Pilgrims from the Mayflower 
went ashore and began to lay the foundation of the Plymouth 
Colony and of New England. 

The Pilgrims, while on board the Mayflower, entered into 
a "compact" or agreement by which every person solemnly 
agreed to obey the laws that should be made when on shore. 
The first government was in the form of a town-meeting, 
where every freeman had a vote and where all the public 
business was attended to. Soon new settlements were made 
and new towns were formed. The outlying towns sent men to 
represent them in a General Court that met at Plymouth. Thus 
the colonists of Plymouth, like those of Virginia, established 
a representative government. 

Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony at Plymouth had 
no sooner begun to prosper than a sister colony began to arise 
not many miles away on the bay shore at the north. This 
was the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which had its beginnings 
at Salem in 1628. In that year John Endicott received from 
the English government a grant of land extending from a 
line three miles south of the Charles River to one three miles 
north of the Merrimac River. In the westerly direction the 
grant disregarded the claims of the Dutch and extended 
straight across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the 
Pacific Ocean. In 1628-29 several hundred colonists settled 
at Salem, with Endicott as their Governor. 

In 1629 John Winthrop was chosen Governor of the colony. 
Winthrop was one of the strongest characters of early colo- 
nial history and is justly regarded as the founder of New 
England. He was deeply religious, and his conscience held 
him firmly in the path of duty. He was extremely fond of 
shooting wild fowl ; but when it came into his mind that this 
sport was sinful, he " covenanted with the Lord " to shoot 
no more. He could doubtless have won distinction and honor 



52 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

in luigland, but his religion and his conscience bade him cast 
his lot with the Massachusetts colonists. 

Winthrop came to America in 1630, and under his leader- 
ship Englishmen began to come over to Massachusetts more 
rapidly than ever before. In ten years twenty thousand home 
seekers sailed into the harbors of Massachusetts Bay. Towns 
sprang up as if by magic. Boston, Charlestown, Dorchester, 
Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and Lynn were all founded 
within two years after the coming of Winthrop. 

Who were these Englishmen who came over is such great 
numbers, and why did they leave their native land? They 
were the Puritans, a class of people who were members of the 
Church of England, but who did not like the way in which 
the services of that church were conducted. They objected 
to many of the forms and ceremonies of the Church, and 
they also longed for greater freedom in religious matters. 
They desired a plain, simple form of worship and a pure 
doctrine, and because they wished to reform the Church and 
purify it they were called Puritans. In matters of religion 
they were in many respects like the Pilgrims ; but the Puri- 
tans wished to remain within the Church of England and 
bring about the desired reforms, whereas the Pilgrims be- 
lieved in separating themselves entirely from the Church. 

English Conditions at the Time of the Puritan Emigration. 
At the time Winthrop came to America, the King, Charles I, 
was acting in a manner that was very displeasing to his sub- 
jects. In the first place, he was taxing the people in a way 
they did not like. Englishmen felt that they ought to pay 
only such taxes as their representatives in Parliament should 
agree upon, while the King was compelling his subjects to 
pay taxes that Parliament had not ordered to be paid. More- 
over, Charles I, like his father (James I) before him, was 
trying to make everybody attend the Church of England. 
The Puritans were especially disliked by the King, and many 
of them suffered at his hands. Some of them were shut up 
m prison on account of their religious convictions. It was 



AROUND MASSACHUSETTS BAY 



53 




because the Puritans 
grew tired of this 
treatment that many 
of them sought refuge 
in the forests of New 
England. 

Government in the 
Puritan Colony. The 
Puritans developed a 
form of government 
like the one that had 
been developed at 
Plymouth. Each town 
had its own town- 
meeting, at which the 
freemen, in a body, 
attended to local af- 
fairs. For the gov- 
ernment of the whole 
colony there was a 
General Court that 
met at Boston. This 
court, like the General Settlements Around Massachusetts Bay 

Court of the Plymouth Colony, was composed of representa- 
tives of the towns. When making laws the General Court was 
not supposed to go contrary to the laws of England ; but, as a 
matter of fact, in the early days it paid very little attention 
to the laws of the mother country. At the time the Puritans in 
xA.merica were building up their government, the Puritans in 
England were giving the King so much trouble that he had no 
time to look after his colony abroad ; so the General Court 
was free to act in the way it thought best. 

Colony of New Hampshire. While the Puritans were 
building up the colony of Massachusetts Bay, fishermen on 
the Piscataqua River were making settlements that were the 
beginnings of the Colony of New Hampshire. Fishing was a 
very important occupation in the early days of New England, 



54 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

and fishing stations existed along the New England coast, 
especially along the coast of Maine, even before the coming of 
the Pilgrims. 

The first settlement of the New Hampshire Colony was made 
at Dover in 1623, under a charter held by John Mason and 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges. These two men were made pro- 
prietors of nearly all the land that is now included in the three 
States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In 1629 they 
divided their territory, Gorges taking Maine for his share and 
Mason taking Xew Hampshire. Both Maine and New Hamp- 
shire were at times claimed and held by Massachusetts. In 
1691 New Hampshire was separated from Massachusetts and 
was made a colony with a government of its own, although 
even after 1691 the two colonies sometimes had the same Gov- 
ernor. In the same year Maine was given to Massachusetts 
and was known as the District of Maine. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of the Pilgrims in England and Holland. 

2. Give an account of the voyage of the Mayfloiver and of the set- 
tlement at Plymouth. Describe the system of government established 
at Plymouth. 

3. Give an account of the beginnings of the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony. Who were the Puritans? In what respect did they differ 
from the Pilgrims? Why did the Puritans leave England? What sys- 
tem of government was established by the Puritans? 

4. What was the early history of New Hampshire? Of Maine? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1522. 1607. 

2. Persons: John Smith, Champlain, Henry Hudson. 

3. Tell what you can about: The Patroons. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: English Colonization; Government. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Pilgrims in England: McLaughlin, 12-18; Explorers 

and Settlers, 127-132. 
(2) How the Pilgrims came to Plymouth; Explorers and 

Settlers, 189-205. 

(3) Miles Standish and the Indians; Explorers and Settlers, 
210-219. 

tlement at Plymouth. Describe the sytem of government established 



X 

ALONG THE CONNECTICUT RIVER AND AROUND THE 
NARRAGANSETT BAY 

Between 1630 and 1640 the Puritans came over in such numbers 
that all the best places along the coast of Massachusetts Bay were 
soon occupied. Many of the settlers of Massachusetts pushed out 
into the wilderness, where there was plenty of room and plenty 
of good land. As a result, within a very few years several new 
colonies were formed. What was the early history of these off- 
shoots of Massachusetts? 

Connecticut. The first place to attract the attention of 
those who wished to leave the older settlements and make 
their homes in the wilderness was the valley of the Connecti- 
cut River. This river flowed through a charming and fertile 
region ; on its shores were plenty of otters and beavers ; in 
the stream were the finest kinds of fish. The Connecticut val- 
ley, therefore, was a good place for farming, for fur-trading, 
and for fishing, the three occupations upon which American 
colonists everywhere relied for a living. 

In 1636 Thomas Hooker, pastor of the church at Newtown 
(now Cambridge), moved with his entire congregation to the 
banks of the Connecticut and founded the city of Hartford. 
Hooker did not like the way the Puritans acted in matters of 
government. He thought religious afifairs and government 
afifairs in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were bound too closely 
together. He thought also that more people ought to be al- 
lowed to vote than were allowed that privilege in the Puritan 
colony. Besides, was not the rich valley of the Connecticut 
a better place for homes than the rocky and barren hills around 
Boston? Hooker and his followers took their wives and chil- 
dren with them. They carried their household goods and 
drove their cattle before them. As they moved overland 

55 



56 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Hooker on His Way to Connecticut 

through the roadless forests of Massachusetts, they took the 
first step in the great western movement which continued for 
more than two hundred years, and which did not come to an 
end until tlie far-off Pacific was reached. 

Trouble With the Indians; the Pequot War. The Con- 
necticut settlers soon began to have trouble with the Indians. 
The poor savages felt that the white men were driving them 
from their hunting-grounds. The colonists, it is true, always 
bought their lands from the Indians ; but when an Indian sold 
a piece of land he felt that he still had the right to hunt upon 
it, while the white man, when he bought a piece of land, felt 
that he had a right to put a fence around it and keep the In- 
dians off. So when the Indians saw that they were losing their 
hunting-grounds they began to regard the Englishmen as their 
enemies. 

The Indians who gave the most trouble were the Pequots. 
Warriors of this tribe would lurk around the settlements, and 
when they found a white man working alone in a field or hunt- 
ing alone in the woods, would pounce on him and kill him. 
Sometimes at night they would attack a family, killing the 



ALONG THE CONNECTICUT RIVER 



57 



men and carrying the women and children away to slavery. 
Tlie settlers endured this as long as they could, and then they 
put an end to it. In 1637 ninety Connecticut colonists at- 
tacked the Pequot stronghold at the mouth of the Mystic 
River, and the tribe was destroyed. 

First Written Constitution. With the Indians out of the 
way, the settlers along the Connecticut could give attention 
to affairs of peace. 




Atlantic 
Ocean 



Connecticut and Rhode Island 



It quickly became nec- 
essary to have a gov- 
ernment for the towns 
that were springing 
up, and in 1639 the 
freemen of Wethers- 
field, Windsor, and 
Hartford met at 
Hartford and drew 
up a plan by which 
the young colony 
should be governed. 
The plan provided for a government almost precisely like 
that which the settlers had left behind them in Massachu- 
setts (p. 53). So far as its form is concerned, there was 
nothing remarkable about the government set up by the Con- 
necticut colonists. Yet the plan which the freemen of these 
three little towns drew up was nevertheless a most remark- 
able one, for it was the first zvrittcn constitution. Never 
before in the history of the world had the people who were 
to be governed planned their own government and at the same 
time written out the plan in plain black and white. 

New Haven. While the settlers of the river towns were 
planning for the government of the Connecticut Colony, a new 
colony was forming on the north shore of Long Island Sound. 
In 1638 a company of Puritans, led by John Davenport, a 
preacher, and Theophilus Eaton, a merchant, settled at New 
Haven. Davenport and his followers believed that men ought 



58 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

to be governed by the words of the Bible, and they planned 
for a government under which rulers should look to the Holy 
Book for guidance. So they set up a " Bible Commonwealth," 
in which only church members could have a voice, and they 
made it very difficult for any one to become a church mem- 
ber. But the Bible Commonwealth did not have a very long 
life. In 1662 Charles II gave out a charter that united New 
Haven to the Connecticut Colony. 

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. While Hooker 
was planting his colony on the banks of the Connecticut River, 
another offshoot of Massachusetts was taking root along the 
shores of Narragansett Bay. In 1636 Roger Williams, a 
young preacher who had been driven from Massachusetts on 
account of his religious ideas, made his way to the spot where 
the city of Providence now stands, and began a settlement 
that was the beginning of the colony of Rhode Island. 



Autograph of Roger Williams 

Williams desired that his settlement should be a shelter for 
all who, like himself, were persecuted on account of religious 
belief. He and the Puritans had quarreled because the Mas- 
sachusetts leaders wanted the Church to rule in all things, 
both in spiritual and in worldly affairs. In his Rhode Island 
settlement Williams intended that the State should be inde- 
pendent of the Church and that the Church should be inde- 
pendent of the State. 

Williams found followers and his colony- grew. Among 
those who sought the religious freedom that was to be found 
only m the Rhode Island Colony were Mrs. Anne Hutchin- 



ALONG THE CONNECTICUT RIVER 59 

son and her followers. This gifted and earnest woman had 
been banished from Massachusetts for preaching new religious 
doctrines. She settled (in 1638) with her colonists in Rhode 
Island, and founded the towns of Pocasset (Portsmouth) 
and Newport. Her settlement, however, was separate and 
distinct from the one made by Williams. In 1663 the Rhode 
Island settlements were brought together and united into a 
single colony with the name of " Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations." The charter that brought about this union was 
quite like the charter which, a year before, Charles II gaye 
to the Connecticut Colony. It gave the people of Rhode 
Island the right to elect their own officers and make their own 
laws. 

The New England Confederation. In 1643 four colonies, 
Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, New Haven, and Connecticut, 
entered into a union known as the New England Confedera- 
tion. Rhode Island did not join this union, because the other 
colonies did not care to unite with her. New Hampshire 
at the time was a part of Massachusetts. The purpose of the 
union was to protect the colonies against the French on the 
St. Lawrence, against the Dutch on the Hudson, and against 
'the Indians everywhere. Each colony was represented by 
two commissioners. The union fulfilled the purpose for which 
it was formed, and was dissolved in 1684. It lasted long 
enough to show the colonies the great benefit of union, and 
the lesson it taught was never forgotten. 

New England Democracy a Lesson in Americanism. Be- 
sides teaching a most useful lesson in union, the early New 
England settlers taught America another important lesson in 
government. In their town-meetings, where every person who 
attended church had a voice, they undertook to govern them- 
selves, and succeeded in the undertaking. The town-meeting, 
therefore, was a democracy : for democracy means successful 
self-government; it means a government of the people, for the 
people, and by the people. So we may say that the New Eng- 
land settlers gave America its first lesson in democracy. And 
a precious gift the lesson was ! For, of all the blessings of 



6o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Americanism, the greatest is the right of governing ourselves. 
When the people rule themselves, government will be con- 
ducted in the interest not of a favored class but in the interest 
of the whole country. 

Democracy, too, is good not only for the nation at large, but 
for the individual citizen as well. When people take a part 
in government their wits are sharpened, their sympathies 
broaden and go out to other persons, and their interest in 
life and in the affairs of the world is keen and alert. Democ- 
racy thus enriches and ennobles the character of citizens. 
And it makes the people more patriotic. Citizens of a democ- 
racy love their government and are ready to defend it, for it 
is something they have made with their own hands. So we 
owe to the New England settlers a debt of gratitude for teach- 
ing America its first lesson in the greatest of all subjects of 
government — democracy. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What attractions did the Connecticut valley have for colonists? 
Why did Hooker leave Massachusetts? Give an account of the settle- 
ment of Hartford. 

2. What were the grievances of the Indians? Give an account of 
the Pequot War. 

3. Give an account of the first written constitution. 

4. When and by whom was New Haven settled? Why was New 
Haven called the "Bible Commonwealth"?, 

5- Who was Roger Williams? What were his purposes in found- 
ing a new colony? Who was Anne Hutchinson? Give an account of 
the early settlement of Rhode Island. 

6. Describe the New England Confederation. 

7. What lesson in government did the New England settlers teach? 
Why is democracy a precious gift? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1607, 1620. 

2. Persons: Henry the Navigator, Columbus, Americus Vespucius, 
John Smith, Champlain, Henry Hudson, John Winthrop 

3. Reviews of Great Subjects: European Background; English 
Colonization; Indians and Indian Wars. 

4- Reading References: 

(0 The Foundation of Rhode Island: Hart k--ka 
(2) The New England Town: McLaughlin, ^G-40. 



XI 

NEIGHBORS OF VIRGINIA 

Our story now takes us from the New England coast back to 
the region of the Chesapeake Bay, and to the low, sandy coast 
south of Virginia. For by the time Virginia was well on its feet 
a sister colony, Maryland, was planted at the north not very far, 
away, while a little later two colonies, North Carolina and South 
Carolina, were planted at the south on the Carolina coast. 

The Founding of Maryland. The colony of Maryland had 
its beginning in 1634, when Leonard Calvert, with about two 
hundred colonists, landed on the banks of a small stream that 
flows into the Potomac River, and began a settlement that was 
called St. Mary's. Leonard Calvert was the first Governor 
of Maryland; but the real founder of the colony was George 
Calvert, who held the title of Lord Baltimore. This good and 
noble man was a Catholic, and he wished to worship in the 
Catholic Church. This he could not do in England, for the 
laws there at that time were very severe against Catholics. 
So Calvert, like many other Englishmen of his time, looked 
to America as a place where he might worship in his own 
way. He secured from the King, who was his warm friend, a 
charter giving him a large tract of land in the region of the 
Chesapeake Bay. He did not live to take part in the found- 
ing of the colony, but after his death all the rights granted 
in the charter were conferred on his son, Cecil Calvert, who, 
taking up the work begun by his father, sent out his brother 
Leonard to act as the Governor of the Maryland Colony. 

Self-Government in Maryland. The INIaryland colonists 
were not compelled to undergo such sufferings as their Vir- 
ginia neighbors had passed through. They won the good will 
of the Indians, and began at once to till the soil and were soon 
raising good crops of tobacco. By the terms of their charter 
. 61 




62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Cecil Calvert was made proprietor (owner) of all the land of 
the colony, and was given power to make laws with the con- 
sent of the freemen. But the peo- 
ple were unwilling that the pro- 
prietor should be the law-maker. 
They demanded for themselves the 
right to make laws, and the right 
was given them. So the settlers of 
Maryland very early began to en- 
joy the right to manage their own 
afifairs. 

Another Lesson in American- 
ism; Religious Freedom. The 
Maryland law-makers at an early 
date decided that the people of the 
colony should enjoy religious free- 
dom. They passed a law (in 1649) 
providing that no person who was 
a Christian should be persecuted or harmed on account of his 
religious belief. Here was another valuable lesson in Ameri- 
canism. At this time, in England and in the other countries 
of Europe there was very little religious freedom. People 
were compelled by law to attend and support some particular 
church, and if any were brave enough to disobey the law and 
worship God in their own way they were thrown into jail, or 
they had their ears cut off, or were whipped, or were punished 
in some other cruel manner. But in Maryland and, as we have 
already learned, in Rhode Island, people were given much free- 
dom in religious matters. This freedom, it is true, was not 
so full and complete as it is to-day, but it was the beginning of 
the religious liberty which all Americans now enjoy and which 
is prized as one of the dearest possessions of life. All honor, 
then, to the colonists who planted in the New World the seeds 
of religious freedom ! 

The Carolina Coast. After the unsuccessful attempts of 
Lane and White (p. 29) to make settlements on the Carolina 
coast, that part of the seaboard was for a long time neglected. 



The First Lord Baltimore 

Born at Kipling, Yorkshire, 
England, about 1580; member of 
Parliament; secretary of state. 
He died in 1632. 



NEIGHBORS OF VIRGINIA 63 

About the middle of the seventeenth century, however, EngHsh 
settlements began to appear along the Albemarle Sound. 
The settlers came from Virginia, some to seek better farming 
and grazing lands, others to enjoy the freedom and independ- 
ence of pioneer life. 

These early settlements attracted the attention of a group 
of English gentlemen and noblemen, and, in 1663 they ap- 
plied to Charles II for a grant of land in the Carolina region. 
The King gave them a tract extending from Virginia on the 
north . to Florida on the south and embracing the present 
States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. In 
the w^esterly direction the tract was to extend from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific. This almost boundless region was given 
to eight royal favorites, who were to hold it as absolute lords 
and proprietors. 

North Carolina. The proprietors at first placed the matter 
of government in the hands of Governor Berkeley of Virginia, 
who sent William Drummond to rule over the new settlements. 
Government in Carolina had its beginning in Albemarle, where 
the foundations of the State of North Carolina were laid. 
As early as 1665 the sturdy settlers of Albemarle were holding 
a little assembly for the making of laws and were thus govern- 
ing themselves. 

South Carolina. South Carolina had its beginning in 1670 
at the mouth of the Ashley River. In that year the proprietors 
sent out from London three shiploads of emigrants, who were 
to found a new colony at Port Royal on the Carolina coast. 
The company selected a spot for settlement about three miles 
above the mouth of the Ashley River, and gave to the place 
the name of Charlestown, in honor of the King. The first place 
of settlement, however, soon began to be abandoned for a 
better location on the peninsula between the Ashley and the 
Cooper Rivers, and by 1680 the first Charlestown was de- 
serted and the new Charlestown (now called Charleston) was 
a flourishing town of 2500 souls. 

Life in the Carolinas. Religion played an important part 
in the settlement of the Carolinas, just as it played an im- 




64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

portant part in the settlement of New England and Maryland. 

In Xorth Carolina the Quakers found a warm welcome, while 

in the other colonies they found only opposition and ill will. 

In South Carolina the Huguenots — French Protestants — 

found refuge from re- 
ligious persecution. 
In 1598 the French 
King, Henry of Na- 
varre, issued the Edict 
of Nantes, under 
which Huguenots 

were allowed to live in 
France in peace ; but 
in 1685 the edict was 
revoked, and a perse- 
cution of Huguenots 
followed. Thousands 
of these persecuted 
Along the Carolina Coast people fled from 

their native country and sought refuge in foreign lands. 
IMany of them came to the English colonies and settled in 
New York, in Maryland, in Virginia, and in the Carolinas. 
Some of them went to Charleston, where they were warmly 
received and where they rendered noble service in the upbuild- 
ing of South Carolina. 

Although both North Carolina and South Carolina were 
under the control of the proprietors, each colony had its own 
separate government and each developed in its own peculiar 
way. In North Carolina the people were scattered far apart 
on their farms, and no large towns were built. It was fifty 
years before the colony could boast of a village with a dozen 
houses. In South Carolina everything centered around 
Charleston, which rapidly pushed forward and became one of 
the largest and most flourishing cities in the New World. 
In Xorth Caroline were produced large quantities of pine-tar 
and turpentine. In South Carolina rice and indigo were the 
most important products. In both colonies there was slavery, 



NEIGHBORS OF VIRGINIA 65 

but the slaves in North Carohna were few in number. In 
South CaroHna, where the rice-swamps were deadly to white 
men and could be cultivated only by negroes, the slaves out- 
numbered the free population. 

Tlie rule of the proprietors was never satisfactory to, the 
people of the Carolinas. There was always discontent and 
quarreling, and once the government was overthrown by rebels. 
Nor did the proprietors reap much gain from their vast Caro- 
lina possessions. In spite of all their efforts, they could 
wring very little money from the troublesome colonists. So in 
1729, when they had a chance to do so, the proprietors gladly 
sold the Carolinas to the King of England, each proprietor 
receiving the sum of £5000 for his share. The Carolinas 
now passed under the control of the King, and were governed 
as separate colonies until the Revolution. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. When and where was Maryland first settled? Who was the real 
founder of Maryland and what was his purpose in founding the 
colony? 

2. Give an account of self-government in Maryland ; of religious 
freedom. What lesson in Americanism was learned in early Mary- 
land ? 

3. Tell the story of the early settlement of the Carolina coast. 

4. What was the early history of North Carolina? Of South Caro- 
lina? 

5. Describe life in the Carolinas in the earlj' days. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1620, 1643. 

2. Persons : Champlain, Henry Hudson, John Winthrop, Roger Wil- 
liams. 

3. Tell what you can about: the "Line of Demarcation"; the 
Patroons; the Pilgrims; the Puritans. 

4. Review of Great Subjects: English Colonization; Religion; Amer- 
icanism. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Maryland and the Carolinas: Eggleston, 52-57. 
(2) Maryland in the Early Days: Hart, 48-51. 
(3) Description of South Carolina: Hart, 65-67. 



XII 

THE MIDDLE COLONIES 

About the time North Carolina and South Carolina were being 
settled, great things were happening around New York Bay and 
along the Delaware River. We have learned (p. 47) that the 
territory between the Hudson and the Delaware was settled by the 
Dutch and called New Netherland. But the English claimed this 
territory, and in 1664 they took possession of New Netherland. 
This change led to the formation of four English colonies, known 
as the Middle Colonies: New York, New Jersey. Pennsylvania, and 
Delaware. How was New Netherland brought under English 
control? What is the early history of the four colonies that were 
formed out of the territory claimed by the Dutch ? 

New Netherland Surrendered to the English. The Dutch 

had hardly settled their colony before England began to dis- 
turb them. In 1664 Charles II, the King of England, did 
what was almost sure to be done sooner or later: he took 
New Netherland away from the Dutch, paying no attention 
whatever to their claims. He sent over a fleet of four vessels 
to take possession of the colony in the name of his brother 
James, Duke of York. Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Gov- 
ernor, fumed and stamped his wooden leg when he heard that 
the fleet was approaching New Amsterdam, and when the com- 
mander of the fleet sent him a letter demanding the surrender 
of the town, he tore the letter to bits and prepared to fight. 
But it was of no use for the old man to storm and fret. The 
English were tot> strong for him. The Dutch flag was hauled 
down, the English colors were run up, and all New Netherland 
passed under the control of England. This surrender gave 
the English full command of the seacoast from Nova Scotia 
to Florida. 

The Dutch colony now gradually became an English colony. 

66 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES 



67 



English names quite generally took the place of Dutch names. 
For example, the town of New Amsterdam was called New 
York, and the colony of New Netherland also was called New 
York. English officers, after the surrender of 1664, took the 
place of Dutch officers, English laws were obeyed instead of 
Dutch laws, and the English language crowded out the Dutch 
language. These 

changes were not 
hard to make, be- 
cause, in the first 
place, the English 
and the Dutch were 
first cousins, and, in 
the second place, the 
Dutch settlers did 
not like the way 
they were governed 
under the patroon 
system, (p. 00) and 
they were glad to 
have the English 
take possession, for 
they hoped that un- 
der English laws Stuyvesant Refuses to Surrender 

they would enjoy greater freedom. 

New Jersey. When New Netherland passed into the hands 
of the English, it included both New York and New Jersey; 
but the Duke of York at once gave the part that lies between 
the Hudson and the Delaware, and which is now the State 
of New Jersey, to his good friends Sir George Carteret and 
Lord Berkeley. These gentlemen were to own and rule New 
Jersey as proprietors, much as Maryland was owned and ruled 
by the Calverts. Philip Carteret, a distant relative of Sir 
George, came over in 1665 as Governor, and made Elizabeth- 
town the capital of the colony. This town, however, was not 
the first settlement that was made in New Jersey, for the Dutch 
had already laid the foundation for Hoboken and had built the 




68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

village of Bergen, now a part of Jersey City. In 1666 thirty 
families came from Connecticut and,. settling on the Passaic 
River, laid the foundation of Newark. 

The proprietors of New Jersey had the power to rule pretty 
much as they pleased ; but they treated the settlers well, and, 
following the example of the proprietors of Maryland, gave the 
people the right to make laws for themselves. The first law- 
making body met at Elizabethtown in 1668. New Jersey grew 
rapidly under English rule, and the people fared well. It is 
said that in 1675 there was not a single poor person in the 
wliole colony of New Jersey. 

Delaware Settled by the Swedes. The strip of land on 
the west side of the Delaware Bay, now known as the State of 
Delaware, was claimed by the Dutch, but they were not al- 
lowed to hold the Delaware country in peace. In the early 
part of the seventeenth century Sweden, under the leadership 
of the great Gustavus Adolphus, began to hold up her head 
among the nations of Europe, and, like other wide-awake coun- 
tries, began to plant colonies in America. In 1638 a company 
of Swedes led by Peter Minuit — whom we have already seen 
in the service of the Dutch (p. 48) — built a fort on the 
Delaware near the spot where the city of Wilmington now 
stands, and began a brisk trade in furs. The Swedes bought 
lands of the Indians, and in a few years had several flourish- 
ing settlements along the Delaware. For a while it seemed 
that there was to be in America a New Sweden as well as a 
New England, a New France, and a New Spain. But trouble 
soon came to New Sweden. The Dutch looked upon the 
Swedes as intruders and trespassers, and in 1655 Governor 
Stuyvesant of New Netherland, with six hundred men, sailed 
into the bay, and after a bloodless battle captured the Swedish 
settlement and compelled the settlers to acknowledge the Dutch 
as their masters. 

We have seen how the Dutch, in their turn, were soon com- 
pelled (in 1664) to acknowledge the English as their masters. 
When the Dutch turned over their American possessions 
to the English, the Swedish settlements were included in the 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES 



69 



transfer, and what is now the State of Delaware fell into 
the hands of the Duke of York, where it remained for a few 
years and was then sold to William Penn. 

William Penn. William Penn was the son of a great 
English naval commander, and the pathway to riches and 
honor was open to him. But at an early age Penn showed 
that he cared for something more important than riches and 
honor. While a young 
man at college he fell un- 
der the influence of the 
Quakers, or the Society, 
of Friends. The Quak- 
ers believed that every 
man has within himself 
an " inward light " 
which can guide him to 
all religious truth and 
which can save his soul. 
If this inward light, they 
said, is to shine in on 
the soul, there must be 
no sermons or formal 
services ; the worshiper 
must sit still and be quiet 
and listen for the voice 
of God. Such a doc- 
trine naturally led to a Delaware River and Delaware Bay 
quiet, simple, and peaceful life. The Quakers were opposed to 
music ; they did not indulge in hunting or in gambling ; they 
wore the plainest kind of clothes ; and they were, above all 
things, opposed to war. 

The teachings of the Quakers took such firm hold upon 
the mind and heart of Penn that he soon came to regard his 
religion as of more value to him than life itself. Admiral 
Penn, his father, tried hard to persuade his son to give up 
his Quaker notions, but his efforts were in vain. Once the 
young Quaker was thrown into prison for writing a book 




70 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

without a license to do so. He was told that if he did not 
<rive up his religion he would remain a prisoner for life. He 
was not in the least frightened by the threat. " My prison," 
he said, " shall be my grave before I will budge a jot." When 
Admiral Penn heard of this firmness, he forgave his son, 
paid his fine, and the young man went free. 
Pennsylvania. When Admiral Penn died he left Wil- 







Penn's Treaty with the Indians 

Ham a great inheritance. A part of the estate was a claim 
against King Charles H for a debt of ii6,ooo. This debt the 
King paid in 1681 by granting to William Penn a tract of land 
extending westward from the Delaware River and containing 
about 48,000 square miles of territory,^ a domain almost as 
large as England itself. The province was given the ap- 

^ Mason and Dixon's Line. — There arose between Penn and the pro- 
prietor of Maryland a dispute as to the true boundary Hne between 
Pennsyh'ania and Maryland. The dispute was finally settled by two 
surveyors named Mason and Dixon, who established (1763-67) the 
present line which separates Maryland from Delaware and Pennsyl- 
vania. This " Mason and Dixon's Line " in later times became famous 
as a part of the dividing line between the slave and free States. 



THE MIDDLE COLONIES 71 

propriate name of Pennsylvania — Penn's Woodland. Penn 
was made the lord and proprietor of Pennsylvania, just as 
Calvert was made the lord and proprietor of Maryland. 

In 1682 Penn -in person sailed to his province with a hun- 
dred colonists, most of whom were Quakers. Upon reach- 
ing the -spot where the city of Chester now stands, he called 
together an assembly of lawmakers chosen by the people. 
The proprietor and the Assembly, cooperating, at once enacted 
some very important measures. The three lower counties on 
the Delaware were joined to Pennsylvania. Penn wanted 
to be master of the coast clear to the mouth of the bay, and 
for this reason he bought Delaware from the Duke of York. 
Delaware remained a part of Pennsylvania until it set up a 
government of its own and became a State in 1776.^ 

The Assembly also agreed to the " Great Law," which had 
been drawn up in England by Penn's own wise and loving hand. 
The Great Law provided that the people should have an as- 
sembly consisting of their chosen representatives ; that there 
should be trial by jury, and rehgious freedom; that no taxes 
should be levied except by the Assembly ; that there should 
be in the colony no cock-fights, stage-plays, lotteries, drunk- 
enness, dueling, or swearing; that the poor should be cared 
for ; that prisoners should be treated kindly ; that liquor should 
not be sold to Indians. 

From Chester Penn proceeded up the Delaware River to the 
place that had been chosen as the site of the capital city and 
which had been named Philadelphia- — -"the city of brotherly 
love." Here the proprietor estabhshed a home and took up 
the serious task of governing his colony. One of the first 
acts was to make a treaty with the neighboring Indians. Be- 
neath a great elm Penn met the chiefs of seventeen tribes 
at a place just north of Philadelphia called Shackamaxon — 
" the place of kings " — and bought from them their lands, 
and entered into an agreement with them that the English 
and the Indians should live in peace and friendship as long 

1 In 1702 Delaware refused to send members to the Pennsylvania 
Assembly, but it remained under the Pennsylvania Governor until 1776. 



72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

as the sun gave light, an agreement that was sacredly kept 
by both sides for nearly seventy years. 

Penn remained with his colonists for two years, and was 
then called back to England. When he returned in 1699 he 
found that wonderful changes had been made during his 
absence. More than twenty thousand white people had come 
to live in his province. Philadelphia, which in 1684 he had 
left a rude village, had grown to be a thriving city of ten 
thousand inhabitants, and was carrying on a profitable trade 
with England and the West Indies. In the city there were 
tanneries, potteries, sawmills, flour-mills. Many of the houses 
were built of brick. Markets were held twice a week, and 
there were inns where the traveler could get good board and a 
comfortable bed. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of the surrender of New Netherland to the Eng- 
lish. What changes took place under the English rule? 

2. Sketch the early history of New Jersey. 

3. Give an account of the Swedes in Delaware. 

4. Tell the story of Penn and the Quakers. 

5. Sketch the early history of- Pennsylvania. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1522, 1620, 1643. 

2. Persons: Balboa, Magellan, De Soto, John Winthrop, Roger 
Williams, George Calvert. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Pilgrims ; the Puritans. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: English Colonization; Claims of Dif- 
ferent Nations at Different Times ; Indians and Indian Wars ; Re- 
ligion. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) A Settler in Pennsylvania; The Colonists and the Revo- 
lution; 28-31. 

(2) The Walking Purchase; The Colonists and the Revolu- 
tion, 57-64. 

(3) New York in 1678: Hart, 58-62. 

(4) New Jersey in 1675: Hart, 62-65. 

(5) The Settlement of Pennsylvania: Hart, 67-^. 

(6) A Journey through Delaware in 1676: Hart, 69-71, 



XIII 

REBELLIONS AND INDIAN UPRISINGS 

The story of the earlier colonies — of Virginia, Maryland, New 
York, and the New England colonies — has been carried forward 
in previous chapters through the first half of the- seventeenth cen- 
tury. The important eventsi in these colonies during the latter 
half of the seventeenth century must now receive attention. These 
events have to do, for the most part, with the actions of discon- 
tented colonists and with the uprisings of restless Indians. 

Charles II Rules Virginia Harshly. During this period 
Virginia especially was a scene of violence and misrule. You 
will recall that, while the Puritans were pouring into New 
England between 1630 and 1640, Charles I was having a 
quarrel with his people about church matters and about taxes. 
That quarrel did not end until 1649, when the King was be- 
headed and Oliver Cromwell, a great man and a man of the 
plain people, was chosen to rule over England. Cromwell 
and his son Richard held the reins of government until 1660, 
when Charles II, the son of Charles I, was restored to the 
kingship. 

Charles II was no sooner on his throne than he began to rule 
Virginia with a heavy hand. In the first place, he appointed 
as Governor of the colony Sir William Berkeley, a man who 
was a tyrant by nature and who was already heartily disliked 
by a great many of the colonists. In the second place, the 
King undertook to enforce certain navigation laws that had 
been passed during Cromwell's time and during the reign of 
Charles I. These laws compelled the colonists to ship goods 
only in English vessels, to sell goods only to English mer- 
chants, and to buy goods only from English merchants. Under 
these laws the Virginia planters were compelled to sell their 
tobacco at whatever price the English merchants chose to 
give them, and they were compelled to pay for goods brought 

7i 



74 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

into the colony Avhatever price the English merchants might 

Bacon's Rebellion. The discontent caused by the harsh 
navigation laws was increased by Berkeley's conduct in respect 

to the Indians. 
One night in Janu- 
ary, 1676, savages 
crept softly into 
the new settlements 
and murdered 

about forty per- 
sons. Berkeley re- 
fused to send a 
force against the 
Indians and al- 
lowed the outrage 
to go unpunished. 
He was carrying 
on a profitable fur 
trade with the In- 
dians, and he did 
not want his pri- 




Bacon Demands Permission to March 
Against the Indians 



vate business disturbed. His do-nothing policy made the peo- 
ple very angry, and they declared that if the Governor would 
not defend them they would defend themselves. 

The people found a leader in Nathaniel Bacon, a rich young 
man of noble birth. In defiance of the Governor, Bacon 
raised a body of fighting men, marched against the Indians, 
and punished them severely. This brought on a quarrel, 
which ended in Bacon's marching on Jamestown and burning 
it to the ground. Berkeley was driven from the colony. 
Young Bacon was now the master of Virginia; but just as he 
was at the height of his power he fell sick of a fever and 
died. 

When Bacon died, the rebellion fell to pieces and the rebels 
dispersed to their homes. Berkeley returned to Virginia and 
wreaked a terrible vengeance upon the followers of Bacon. 



REBELLIONS AND INDL^N UPRISINGS 



75 



Twenty-three persons were put to death. " The old fool," 
said Charles II, " has taken away more lives in that naked 
country than I did here for the death of my father." The 
King, in disgust, deprived Berkeley of his office. When the 
old tyrant took his departure for England (1677), guns were 
fired, bonfires were kindled, and people shouted until their 
throats were sore. So Bacon's Rebellion accomplished at least 
two good things : it caused the Indians to behave them- 
selves, and it enabled Virginia to get rid of a very bad Gov- 
ernor. 

King Philip's War. In the same year in which Bacon 
gave battle to the Indians in Virginia, the people of New Eng- 
land also were engaged 
in a bloody Indian war. 
As the years passed it 
became plainer and 
plainer to the minds of 
the Indians that the 
white man could not al- 
ways be the red man's 
friend. The white man 
was cutting down the 
forests and driving 
away the game and if 
he was not checked, the 
Indian would have no occupation and no home. 

In 1675 the struggle that had to come sooner or later was 
begun. The first blow was struck by the Indians under the 
leadership of Philip, the chief of the Wampanoags. King 
Philip, as the chief was called, began by attacking the little 
town of Swansea, in Rhode Island, and killing eight men. He 
was soon joined by other tribes, and the cruel warfare spread. 
Thanks to the New England Confederation (p. 59), Massa- 
chusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut were ready to join their 
forces against Philip, and before the end of the summer of 
1676 the Indian strength was broken and Philip himself was 
run down and slain. The victory was a costly one. Thir- 




Scene of King Philip's War 



.6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

teen towns had been sacked and burned, and more than two 
thousand settlers had been killed and wounded. 

A Time of Trouble for New England. About ten years 
after the close of King Philip's War the people of New 
England were again thrown into great excitement. This time 
the trouble came from England. In 1685 Charles II died 
and his brother James II was proclaimed King. The next 
year the new King sent over Sir Edmund Andros to act as 
Governor of all New England. Andros was given power to 
deprive all the colonies of their old charters and to give them 
a new government. The colonies were governed in so many 
dififerent ways that they gave the King a great deal of trouble, 
and he desired Andros to simplify the system of government 
and bring New England more directly under the control of the 
crown. 

Now, the people of New England had become accustomed 
to govern themselves in their own way, and they gave Andros 
a very cold reception indeed. When he went to Hartford and 
demanded the surrender of the charter of the Connecticut 
Colony, the charter was spirited away and hidden in the hollow 
of an oak-tree, and Andros never got his hands on the precious 
document. In Massachusetts the new Governor took the old 
charter away from the colony, and the people were compelled 
to submit to his rule. They were not compelled, however, 
to submit long, for in 1689 James II was driven from his 
throne, and his daughter Mary and her husband, William III, 
were proclaimed the joint rulers of England. When it was 
learned in America that James II was no longer King, the 
people of IMassachusetts at once had Andros arrested, and 
he was soon sent out of the colony. 

In 1691 the King gave out a new charter, which joined Maine 
(p. 54) and Plymouth to Massachusetts and which provided 
that Massachusetts should henceforth be ruled by a Governor 
appointed by the King. Connecticut and Rhode Island were 
allowed to govern themselves under their old charters, as they 
had been allowed to do before the coming of Andros. 

Leisler's Rebellion. Andros was made Governor of New 



REBELLIONS AND INDIAN UPRISINGS ^7 

York as well as of New England, but his power lasted no 
longer in New York than it did in Massachusetts. For after 
James II was driven from his throne William III sent out a 
Governor to New York to take the place of Andros. Before 
the new Governor arrived, however, the common people of 
New York had chosen Jacob Leisler, one of their wealthy 
inhabitants, as Governor. When the Governor sent out by 
William III reached New York (in 1691) Leisler refused to 
recognize his authority. For this offense he was hanged as 
a traitor. Leisler was greatly liked by the common people, 
and many felt that he had been unjustly treated. This in- 
cident, known as Leisler's Rebellion, created a bitter feeling 
between the upper and lower classes in New York, and many 
years passed before the feeling died out. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Who was Oliver Cromwell? In what way did Charles II dis- 
please the Virginians? What were the navigation laws? 

2. What causes led to Bacon's Rebellion? Give an account of that 
rebellion. 

3. What led the Indians of New England to wage war against the 
whites? Give an account of King Philip's War. 

4. For what purpose was Sir Edmund Andros sent to the colonies? 
Give an account of Andros' actions in New England. What was the 
efifect of the charter of 1691 ? 

5. Tell the story of Leisler's Rebellion. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1588, 1643, 1664. 

2. Persons : Cabot, Drake, Raleigh, Roger Williams, George Calvert, 
William Penn. 

3. Tell what you can about : the " Line of Demarcation " ; the 
Patroons. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Indians and Indian Wars; Com- 
merce ; English Colonization. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Early Indian Wars: Eggleston, 78-85. 

(2) Early Struggles for Liberty: Eggleston, 153-158. 

(3) King Philip : Whitney, 9-50. 

(4) The Navigation Laws : Bogart, 94-98- 



XIV 

OUR COUNTRY IN 1700 

The account of English colonization on the Atlantic coast has 
now been brought down to the end of the seventeenth century. 
What was the result of a hundred years of colony-planting? You 
have learned how the country looked about the year 1600. What 
kind of a country was it a,bout the year 1700? What changes 
had taken place in America between the time when John Smith, 
in 1607, first sailed into the Chesapeake, and the time when William 
Penn, in 1701, bade his colony a last farewell? 

Area of Settlement in 1700. By the year 1700 the dense 
forests along the Atlantic coast had, for the most part, dis- 
appeared, the wild beasts had been driven inland, and the 
savages had been taught to let the settlers live in peace. All 
along the seaboard from Nova Scotia to Florida there were 
thriving communities of white men. It is said that in 1700 it 
was possible for one to ride on horseback — it would not have 
been possible in a wheeled vehicle — from Portland in Maine 
to the southern boundary of Virginia, and to sleep each night 
in some good-sized village. Such were the results of a hun- 
dred years of hard work, of wood-chopping, building, plow- 
ing, and planting. 

But the settled country along the seaboard in 1700 was still 
a very narrow strip of land. In some places the strip was 
only a few miles wide, and its greatest width was hardly more 
than a hundred miles. The western boundary of the settled 
country was the Frontier Line. East of this line men lived in 
an orderly, civilized manner, and life and property were safe. 
West of the Frontier Line were the great dark woods, where 
the only human beings were Indians and wandering whites, 
and where every man was a law unto himself. As our story 
proceeds, this Frontier Line will always be moving farther 

78 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1700 79 

and farther to the west ; and to have a clear understanding of 
our country's growth, one must carefully watch this line 
as it advances toward the setting sun. 

Population; the Three Classes of People. What was the 
population of our country in 1700? People were not carefully 
counted then, but it is likely that there were about 250,000 
persons in the twelve seaboard colonies. In New Hampshire 
there were about 5000; in Massachusetts, 60,000; in Rhode 
Island, 5000; in Connecticut, 20,000; in New York, 25,000; in 
New Jersey, 15,000; in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 30,000; 
in Maryland, 30,000; in Virginia, 65,000; in the Carolinas, 
10,000. These estimates — for they are only estimates — in- 
clude both whites and negro slaves. 

The population of the colonies at this time was made up of 
three classes — freemen, white servants, and negro slaves. 
Many of the white servants were bound to serve a certain 
master for a certain time. These were the " indented " serv- 
ants, who, in order to pay for their voyage across the ocean, 
had sold themselves of their own free will to a shipmaster 
or a planter for a term of years. Sometimes the term was 
as long as ten years, but often it was as short as four years. 
After an indented servant had served out his term he again 
became a freeman. In the New England colonies there were 
not a great many indented servants, but in the other colonies 
a large portion of the population consisted of this class of 
persons. 

Negro slaves were found in all the colonies. The Quakers 
of Pennsylvania were opposed to slavery, yet even in that 
colony the negro was held in bondage. In New England slaves 
were few in number ; in the middle colonies about one per- 
son in ten was a slave, in the southern colonies by the year 
1700 a large part of the population was in slavery, and negroes 
were brought from Africa at the rate of 25,000 each year. 
Slave labor in the North was not very profitable to the master, 
but for the tobacco- and rice-fields of the South the African 
slave was the most profitable workman that could be found. 

Occupations in 1700. The chief occupations of the col- 







The Frontier line in 1700 is shown 
thus: ^_^^^..^^_ 

Ctiaa line marks the extreme western edge of 
the fully settled areas but takes no account of 
military posts or detached settlements.) 



1st. A<i(fikt^« 



Statute Miles 



TMt Hr.-N. \>0«KB 



The Frontier Line in 1700 
80 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1700 81 

onies were farming, fur-trading, and fishing. Of these farm- 
ing was by far the most important, for almost everybody was 
a farmer. But the colonial farmer in 1700 was usually a 
jack-of-all-trades ; now he was a hunter and trapper, now a 
lumberman and carpenter, now a fisherman and sailor. Next 
in importance to farming came the fur trade. In Europe, in 
the seventeenth century, stoves were not in use and houses 
were very poorly heated, if they were heated at all. As a 
source of warmth, furs were brought into use much more than 
they are now. Floors were covered with furs, bed-clothing 
consisted largely of furs, and many garments were made of 
furs. This great demand for furs in Europe made the fur 
trade in the colonies very profitable, for everywhere the forests 
abounded in fur-bearing animals. Fishing was carried on most 
extensively in New England, where in 1700 nearly a thousand 
vessels were employed in the codfishery alone. 

Manufacturing in the colonies in 1700 was, of course, still 
in a rude state. For all kinds of fine goods the colonists de- 
pended upon the workshops of England. And England in- 
tended that her colonies should depend upon the home country 
for most of their manufactured articles. She had manufac- 
tures of her own and she did not want colonial manufactures 
to flourish. It was her policy, therefore, to compel the colo- 
nists to buy English goods and to prevent them from making 
goods for themselves. Still, certain coarse articles were made 
in the colonies. In many a colonial home there were spinning 
and weaving, soap-making, candle-making, cabinet-making, 
and upholstering. There was one industry in particular that 
soon gained a foothold in the colonies. This was ship-build- 
ing. Owing to the large supplies of splendid timber at the 
very water's edge, cheaper and better vessels could be built 
in the American colonies than anywhere in Europe. Especially 
did this industry flourish in New England, where enough ves- 
sels were built to supply the home demand, and fifty more were 
built every year and sold abroad. 

Education. In matters of education the colonies had not 
advanced very far. In New England Harvard College was 



82 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



flourishing and public schools were quite common. The Hart- 
ford Grammar School, now the High School, was founded m 
1638, and Yale College in 1701. In the middle colonies there 
were very few schools, and in the southern almost none at all. 




Harvard College in 1726 

In 1 67 1 Governor Berkeley thanked God that there were no 
schools in Virginia, and expressed a hope that there would be 
none for a hundred years. If he had lived, however, until 
1693 he would have witnessed the founding of William and 
Mary College, the second college established in America. 

Religion. We have seen that religion played an impor- 
tant part in the founding of most of the colonies. By 1700 a 
number of different faiths had gained a firm foothold in the 
New World. In Virginia and the Carolinas the Church of 
England — the Episcopal Church — led all the other denomina- 
tions. In Virginia alone there were fifty Episcopal churches. 
In Maryland the Catholic influence was strong, though the 
ruling classes belonged to the Episcopal Church. In Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey the Quakers outnumbered 
the other denominations, although there were many Lutherans, 
Baptists, and Presbyterians in these colonies. In New York 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1700 



83 



there was almost every denomination that could be mentioned, 
but no one church was strong enough to be regarded as the 
leader. In New England religious feeling was very strong, 
and the Church was the ruling force in almost all the affairs 
of life. Here the Congregational Church, which was the 
church of the Puritans, prevailed, except in Rhode Island, 
where the Baptists were the strongest religious body. 

Government. In 1700 the government of one colony did 
not differ much from the government of another. In every 
colony the right of voting wa*s given to men who owned 
a certain amount of property. Each colony had its own 
Governor. In Connecticut and Rhode Island this officer 
was elected by the people; in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
the Carolinas he was appointed by the proprietor ; in the 
other colonies he was appointed by the King of England. 
Each colony had a law-making body — an Assembly or Gen- 
eral Court — which was elected by the people and which could 
pass any law that was not contrary to a law of England. If 
a colonial law was contrary to the law of England it could be 
vetoed by the King. Between the Assembly and the Governor 
there was a body of assistants or councilors appointed by the 
King and known as the Council. In every colony there 
were judges to try cases and settle disputes. In every colony 
there was a system of local government for the ma-nage- 




A Colnni.il S, 1,,,m1. 



84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

ment of local affairs. There were counties and county officers 
in every colony. In the southern colonies the county was the 
only local government. In the other colonies towns (or town- 
ships) were established within the county to attend to the 
affairs of the immediate neighborhood. 

Thus we see that by 1700 a second England had been carried 
across the sea and firmly planted along the Atlantic coast. It 
is true there were some Dutch in New York and some Swedes 
in Delaware and Pennsylvania, but in the main the people 
of the seaboard colonies were English. They spoke English, 
they lived in the English way, and they enjoyed the blessings 
of English government and law. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. To what extent had the English by 1700 made settlements on the 
Atlantic seaboard? What is meant by the Frontier Line? Trace this 
line for the year 1700 (see map, p. 180). 

2. What was the estimated population of the several colonies in 
1700? Who were the "indented" servants? Give an account of 
slavery in the colonies. 

3. What were the chief occupations of the colonists in 1700? Why 
was the fur trade so important? Wliat was England's policy in re- 
spect to colonial manufactures? To what extent was there manufac- 
turing in the colonies? 

4. What advancement had the colonies made in education in 1700? 

5. By 1700 what religious denominations had gained a foothold in 
the colonies? 

6. Describe the government of a colony. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1664, 1689. 

2. Persons: George Calvert, William Penn, Edmund Andros. 

3. Tell what you can about : the " Line of Demarcation " ; Bacon's 
Rebellion. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Americanism; Agriculture; Manu- 
facturing; Commerce; Education; Government; Religion. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Good Old Colony Times; The Colonists and the 
Revolution, 3-8. 

(2) Bond Servants and Slaves in the Colonies: Eggleston, 
104-108. 

(3) Laws and Usages in the Colonies: Eggleston, 108-113. 



XV 
A HALF-CENTURY OF COLONIAL GROWTH 

In the last chapter we learned of the civilization that had been 
planted by Englishmen along the Atlantic coast in the seventeenth 
century. We shall now trace the history of colonial growth 
through the first half of the eighteenth century. 

Immigration; Pennsylvania Dutch; Scotch-Irish. Before 
1700 white men who came to the colonies were in nearly all 
cases Englishmen. About 1700, however, streams of immi- 
grants who were not Englishmen began to pour into America. 
These newcomers came from almost every country of Europe, 
but by far the greatest number came from Germany and Ire- 
land. Most of the Germans came from the Rhine country, 
which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was rendered 
unsafe for life and property because it was so often over- 
run by soldiers and devastated by war. A few of the Ger- 
man immigrants went up into New York and settled in the 
Mohawk valley. The greater part of them, however, settled 
in Pennsylvania and became known as Pennsylvania Dutch, 
although they were not Dutch at all. The Germans from 
the Rhine country began to arrive in Pennsylvania soon after 
the founding of the colony, and by 1727 they were coming over 
in large numbers. In one year (1749) more than 7000 ar- 
rived, and it is estimated that by 1776 nearly 100,000 Germans 
had settled in Pennsylvania alone, to say nothing of those who 
had settled in other colonies. 

The Germans were attracted to Pennsylvania because the col- 
ony permitted them to become citizens on easy terms and be- 
cause it offered them cheap lands. They were worthy of their 
citizenship, for they were self-respecting, intelligent, and in- 
dustrious. It was the sturdy stroke of the German's ax that 
brought eastern Pennsylvania rapidly under cultivation, and 
it was to the thrift and industry of the German farmer that 
Pennsylvania owed much of her prosperity in early times. 

85 



86 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Another great stream of immigration flowed from the North 
of Ireland and consisted of Scotch-Irish - Scots who lived 
in Ireland. During the seventeenth century large numbers of 
Scotch Presbyterians moved to the North of Ireland, and by 
the beginning of the eighteenth century several hundred 
thousand had estalilished homes in the county cf Ulster. But 



-j:-,y».*«i«SfcST 




Philadelphia About 1750 

they were discontented in their new home. They were an- 
noyed on account of their religion and were not allowed free- 
dom in matters of trade. So the Scotch-Irish looked to Amer- 
ica as a place of refuge, and in the early years of the eighteenth 
century began to emigrate to the colonies. They settled in all 
parts of British America, in New England, in the middle col- 
onies, and in the South. But Pennsylvania received the largest 
share of the Scotch-Irish, just as it received the largest share 
of the Germans. The Scotch-Irish began to arrive in- Pennsyl- 
vania in considerable numbers about 1715, and by 1729 were 
landing on the wharves of Philadelphia in such numbers that 
the Governor of the province became alarmed lest they should 
make themselves masters of the province. 



HALF-CENTURY OF COLONIAL GROWTH 87 

Georgia. Some of the (lernians and Scotch-Irish found 
their way to the new colony of Georgia, which in 1733 was 
founded on the Carohna coast. The portion of the seaboard 
lying between the Ashley and the St. Mary's rivers was claimed 
by Spain as well as by England, but no settlement was made 
on this part of the coast by either nation until George II, 
King of England, gave to James Oglethorpe and some of his 
associates a charter for the land between the Savannah and 
the Altamaha rivers, westward to the Pacific Ocean. Ogle- 
thorpe sailed from England with thirty-five families, and in 
1733 reached the mouth of the Savannah River, .where he 
began to build the city of Savannah and to lay the founda- 
tions of Georgia. 

There was a double purpose in the planting of the Georgia 
colony. In the first place, the King wanted a barrier between 
Florida and the Carolinas. He saw that the Spaniards of 
Florida were pushing northward, and he wished to head them 
ofif by planting a colony of Englishmen at the mouth of the 
Savannah; In the second place, Oglethorpe saw in the wilds 
of Georgia a place where he could carry out a scheme that 
was dear to his heart. In London at this time a great many 
worthy people were confined in the prisons for debt — a 
thing that could not happen to-day, but was once very common. 
Oglethorpe sincerely pitied these poor debtors, and it was for 
their sake that he gave his time and his money to the found- 
ing of Georgia. He caused the most worthy of the debtors 
to be released from prison, and many of these he took with 
him to his colony, where they could become owners of land 
and build up their fortunes anew. 

Oglethorpe went to Georgia in person and served as its 
Governor. He was assisted in governing by a small number 
of trustees. These trustees made all the laws. Slavery was 
forbidden in the colony, and intoxicating liquor could not 
be imported. As long as Oglethorpe remained with his col- 
onists, afifairs went well. But after a faithful service of ten 
years he returned to England. Then the colonists became dis- 
satisfied. They wanted rum, they wanted slaves, and they 




The Frontier Line in 1740 



HALF-CENTURY OF COLONIAL GROWTH 89 

wanted a law-making body composed of chosen representatives. 
In the end they got all these things. In 1752 the plan of 
governing by trustees was given up and Georgia became a royal 
colony, remaining under the government of the King until 
the Revolution, when it had a population of 50,000 souls. 

Moving Westward; the Great Valley of the Shenandoah. 
After the founding of Georgia no more English colonies were 
planted, for the time had come when it was more desirable to 
develop the existing colonies than to organize new ones. At 
the opening of the eighteenth century in almost every colony 
there were great areas of vacant land, and colonial growth 
for many years consisted mainly in bringing these lands under 
cultivation and filling them with people. This development 
necessarily took a westward course, for if the English colonists 
went far to the north they met the French, and if they went 
far to the south they met the Spanish. In New York the 
westward movement at this time was very slow, because the 
progress of the English was opposed not only by the French, 
but also by powerful tribes of Iroquois Indians. But in the 
western part of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina 
the Indians were less troublesome and there were as yet no 
French at all. So it was from Pennsylvania and from the 
southern colonies that the settlers first began to move in con- 
siderable numbers toward the West. 

The first important westward movement of population began 
with the settlement of the beautifvil valley that lies between 
the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mountains and is drained 
by the Shenandoah River. In 17 16 Governor Spotswood 
of \'irginia, with fifty companions, entered this valley near 
the present site of Port Republic, and with much ceremony 
took possession of the region in the name of King George 
of England. His purpose in pushing out into the valley was 
to head oiT the French, who at the time, as we shall learn 
more fully in the next chapter, had already taken possession 
of the country west of the Alleghanies and were pushing east 
as fast as they dared. 

Soon after the expedition of Spotswood the settlement of the 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 
90 

Shenandoali valley began in earnest. First came a few settlers 
from the older parts of Virginia. Then came large numbers 
of the Scotch-Irish and Germans from Pennsylvania. These 
enterprising people by 1730 had crossed the Susquehanna and 
were making settlements in the Cumberland valley. In 1732 
they began to move down into the Shenandoah valley and 
build rude cabins and plant corn-fields. In a few years so 
many people — Virginians, Scotch-Irish, and Germans — had 
settled in the valley that it became necessary for them to have 
some form of government. So in 1738 Virginia took the 
matter in hand and organized the Shenandoah region as a 
county and provided it with a regular government. 

Thus between 1700 and 1750 the strip of English civiliza- 
tion along the seaboard was greatly widened, and the Frontier 
Line was pushed westward over the Blue Ridge Mountains 
even to the crest of the Alleghanies. With this increase in the 
area of settlement there was, of course, an increase in pop- 
ulation. In 1750 there were in the thirteen colonies about a 
million whites and a quarter of a million negro slaves. The 
population of the colonies, therefore, in 1750 was nearly five 
times as great as it was in 1700 (p. 79). 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of the Pennsylvania Dutch ; of the Scotch-Irish. 

2. What grant of land was given to Oglethorpe? What were Ogle- 
thorpe's plans? What was the early history of Georgia? 

3. Why did the development of the English colonies proceed in a 
westerly direction? In what colonies did the westward movement 
begin? Give an account of the settlement of the Shenandoah valley. 
What was the population of the colonies about 1750? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1C07, 1664, 1689. 

2. Persons: John Smith, William Penn, Edmund Andres. 

3. Tell what you can about: Bacon's Rebellion; the Pilgrims. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Population; European Background; 
The Westward Movement; English Colonization; Commerce. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Coming of the Germans and Irish : Eggleston, 67-69. 
(2) The Settlement of Georgia: Eggleston, 63-67. 



XVI 

IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: LOUISIANA 

In the beginning the French came to Canada in very small num- 
bers (p. 45). In the second half of the seventeenth century, how- 
ever, they came over in larger numbers, and the population of 
Canada w^as in a short time doubled. During this period, also, the 
French extended their power over the entire Mississippi Valley, 
and in doing so came into conflict with the claims of the English. 
We shall now have the story of the great extension of the French 
power in America and shall learn of the quarrels that arose between 
the French and the English. 

Marquette and La Salle. In 1664, the very year (p. 66) 
in which the English power along the Atlantic coast was so 
greatly strengthened by the seizure of New Netherland, the 
French King, Louis XIV, took measures for building up the 
French power in America. He appointed new officers for 
the government of Canada and sent over 2,000 colonists and 
1,200 trained soldiers. French explorers were now encouraged 
to push out into the wilderness, and wherever they went the 
French flag was raised and the region round about was claimed 
for France. 

Foremost among the Frenchmen who took part in build- 
ing up a New France in America were James Marquette and 
Robert La Salle. Marquette was a Jesuit priest — a member 
of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits at the time were going 
out into all parts of the world, into Asia and Africa as well as 
into America, and with great devotion were lifting up the 
cross and converting heathen people to Christianity. Nowhere 
was the zeal of the Jesuits greater than it was among the 
American Indians, and no Jesuit missionary was more zealous 
than Marquette. 

In 1673 this pious man, in company with some fur-traders 
and guides, ascended the Fox River as far as birch-bark 

91 



92 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

canoes would float, made an easy portage^ to the Wisconsin 
River followed this stream to the Mississippi, and contmued 
his journey southward on the Father of Waters until he 
came to the mouth of the Arkansas, the point m the great 
river where the body of De Soto was buried (p. 2^). Here 
Marquette turned his boat around and made his way north- 
ward, against swift-flowing streams, till he reached the Michi- 
gan country, where his labors were soon ended by death. It 
is said that when he died he was kneeling at an altar which 
he had made with his own hands, and that his lifeless body. 
when found, was still in the attitude of prayer. 



• im.793!^ f 




La Salle Taking Possession of Louisiai.. 

La Salle completed for P'rance the work of discovery begun 
by Marquette. About 1670 this daring explorer discovered 
the Ohio — Beautiful — River, and in 1682 he floated down 
the Mississippi to its mouth. Here he raised the French flag 
and took possession of the Mississippi basin in the name of 
France, calling the vast region Louisiana, in honor of his 
King, Louis XIV. France was now in possession of the St. 
Lawrence valley, the Great Lake region, and the Mississippi 

^ A portage is a break in a water route over which goods or boats 
have to be carried. 



IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: LOUISIANA 93 

valley. While the English were making themselves masters 
of only a narrow strip of coast-land, the French had gained 
control of the heart of America and of the most valuable por- 
tions of the New World. 

King William's War. It was not to be expected that Eng- 
land would stand with folded arms and look on while the 
French gained possession of the heart of the American con- 
tinent. The trouble that was bound to come began in 1689, 
when William III was made King of England (p. 76). 
James II and Louis XIV had been strong friends, and when 
James lost his throne the French King took up his friend's 
cause and waged war upon William. As soon as Frontenac, 
the Governor of Canada, learned that England and France were 
at war, he planned a series of attacks upon the border settle- 
ments of New England and New York. The men who were 
to make these attacks were for the most part Indians friendly 
to the French and hostile to the English. The most shameful 
deed of King William's War was the terrible massacre at 
Schenectady, in New York. One night in February, 1690, 
a band of Frenchmen and Indians rushed in upon this frontier 
town at an hour when everybody was asleep, and began the 
work of destruction. Buildings were set on fire, men were 
shot as they ran out of their houses, and women and children 
were either burned to death or were murdered as they lay 
in their beds. Sixty persons were killed outright, and nearly 
a hundred were captured and carried away. 

Queen Anne's War. A second clash between the French 
and English colonies came in 1702, when the King of France 
placed his grandson on the Spanish throne and thus threatened 
to spread the French power over Spain. This was distaste- 
ful to the English, and France and England went to war 
over the matter. In America the war was known as Queen 
Anne's War, Anne being then the Queen of England. Queen 
Anne's War was simply King William's War over again. The 
French and Indians rushed down from Canada and attacked 
the unprotected settlements of the English. At Deerfield, in 
Massachusetts, there was a frightful slaughter of the inhabi- 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 
94 

tants The people of New England attacked Nova Scotia, and 
in 1710 gained possession of that peninsula. Queen Anne s 
War was brought to a close in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht. 
The war had one important result: it took Nova Scotia from 
France and gave it to England. ^ 

French Colonies and Forts in the Mississippi Valley. 
While these wars were in progress, the French were all the 
time strengthening their power in the Mississippi valley. The 
deeds of La Salle had caused France to take a greater interest 
in the affairs of America than she had ever shown before. 
Under the direction of the great King Louis XIV, plans were 
set on foot for the planting of colonies near the mouth of the 
Mississippi River, and by 17 16 Bienville had laid the founda- 
tions of Natchez, the oldest permanent settlement in the Missis- 
sippi valley south of lUinois. In 1718 New Orleans was 
founded, and in 1722 it was made the capital city of Louisiana. 
France also took active measures to strengthen herself in the 
possession of the entire valley. She fortified important points 
throughout the valley, and by the time she had finished there 
were forts on the Mississippi, the Illinois, the Wabash, the 
Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence. Between New Orleans 
and Montreal the French flag waved over more than sixty 
forts. 

King George's War. For thirty years after the Treaty of 
L'trecht there was peace between the French and English in 
America. Then there was another clash between France and 
England, and again the war spread to America, where it was 
known as King George's War. In this war there were the 
usual raids of French and Indians from Canada, and there 
was besides a military event of great interest. This was the 
capture of Louisburg, a fort that the French had built at 
great expense on the island of Cape Breton to guard the gate- 
way of the St. Lawrence. Against this stronghold Sir William 
Pepperell of Boston, with three thousand men from New 
England, led an attack, and after a siege of six weeks the 
mighty fortress fell. At the end of the war Louisburg, by 
the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, was given back (1748) to 



IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: LOUISIANA 



95 







Scene of King William's War, Queen Anne's War, and King 
George's War 

France, and the great victory, after all, seemed hardly worth 
while. Nevertheless the taking of Louisburg taught the col- 
onists that they were no longer weaklings, and that, if neces- 
sary, they could do still greater things. 

Ohio Valley Claimed by Both French and English. No 
sooner was King George's War at an end than the French and 
English colonists began to quarrel over the possession of 
the Ohio valley. England claimed this magnificent region on 
the ground that Cabot's discovery made England the owner of 
all North America, and upon the further ground that the Iro- 
quois Indians, who lived in the Ohio country, had acknowl- 
edged themselves to be English subjects and had granted their 
Ohio lands to England. 

France claimed the Ohio region upon the ground of La 
Salle's discovery. That there might be no mistake about the 
French claim, the Governor of Canada in 1749 sent a company 
of French and Indians down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers 
to take formal possession of the country in the name of the 
King of France. As signs of possession, tin plates bearing 



96 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

the arms of France were nailed to trees standing at the mouths 
of streams flowing into the Ohio, while in the bed of the river 
were buried leaden plates bearing an inscription to the eflfect 
that the land around belonged to France. 

England paid no attention whatever to the leaden plates. 
In the very year in which they were buried, the King of Eng- 
land granted a large tract of the Ohio country to some wealthy 
\'irginians. This action thoroughly aroused the French, and 
to strengthen their position they at once built a chain of three 
forts (see map, p. 102) — one at Presque Isle (Erie), one 
twenty miles away at Leboeuf, and one at "V^enango (Franklin, 
Pennsylvania). 

French and English Colonial Systems Compared. What 
with the building of forts and the marking ofif of boundaries 
and the laying of claims to wide stretches of territory, France 
was now making a show of strength in the New World. 
But her power was by no means so great as it seemed to be. 
Tlie things done by France in America were insignificant when 
compared with the things done by England. France was left 
behind because she had a bad colonial system, while England 
had a good one. We have already learned (p. 45) that the 
French in America neglected the occupation of farming, and 
that the English encouraged farming. 

There were other important differences between the French 
^nd the English colonial systems. In New France the col- 
onists were treated as underlings ; they were allowed no voice 
in government, and were compelled to obey officers sent out by 
the French King. In British America the colonists were 
treated as freemen and were allowed to govern themselves. 
In New France the colonists could not act for themselves, 
but had to do things strictly according to the wishes of the far- 
away home government. In British America the colonists 
were thrown upon their own resources and could do the things 
that in their judgment ought to be done. 

As a result of these differences in colonial management, 
British America ran ahead of New France in industry, in 
trade, in education, in wealth, in population. At the end of 



IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: LOUISIANA 97 

one hundred and fifty years of colonial experience the French 
in America numbered only about 80.000, while the English 
numbered more than a million. In 1750 in the entire Mis- 
sissippi valley there were probably fewer than five thousand 
Frenchmen. Surely the French power, although it was spread 
over a vast extent of territory, was spread extremely thin. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Describe the beginnings of the movement to build up the French 
power in the Mississippi valley. Who were the Jesuits ? Give an ac- 
count of the explorations of Marquette and La Salle. 

2. Tell the story of King William's War. 

3. Tell the story of Queen Anne's War. 

4. What colony was founded by the French in the Mississippi valley? 
What forts were built there? 

5. Tell the story of King George's War. 

6. Give an account of the claims made by the English and the French 
to the Ohio valley. Tell the story of the leaden plates. 

7. Compare the French colonial system with the English system. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1607, 1689. 

2. Persons : Henry the Navigator ; Columbus ; Americus Vespucius ; 
Champlain ; Henry Hudson ; Edmund Andros ; James Oglethorpe. 

3. Tell what you can about : The Patroons ; Bacon's Rebellion ; the 
Pennsylvania Dutch; the Scotch-Irish. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The French in North America; Dis- 
covery and Explorations ; Claims of Different Nations at Different 
Times ; Religion. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Jesuits: Parkman, 130-134. 

(2) The Discovery of the Mississippi: Parkman, 186-194. 

(3) La Salle : Parkman, 195-222. 

(4) The Fur Trader and the Indian : The Colonists and the 
Revolution, 96-101. 

(5) The French in Canada: Eggleston, 1 16-120. 

(6) King William's War; Queen Anne's War; King George's 
War; Eggleston, 120-127. 

(7) Hannah Dustan : Bruce, 13-16. 




The First Portrait of George Washington 



98 



XVII 
THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT 

The building of the French forts on land claimed by the English, 
and the quarrel over the possession of the Ohio country brought on 
the fourth and final clash in America, a conflict known as the 
French and Indian War. This war was really a life-and-death 
struggle between the English and the French for the possession 
of North America. 

The French Capture Fort Duquesne. The presence of the 
French forts on the Allegheny River thoroughly alarmed the 
people of Virginia, the colony that had the strongest claim 
on the Ohio country. It was seen clearly enough that if the 
French should gain possession of the " Forks of the Ohio " — 
the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela — the Vir- 
ginians would be shut out of the Ohio valley completely ; 
for these Forks were the nattiral gateway to the West. So 
in 1753 Robert Dinwiddie, the Governor of Virginia, sent 
a message to the commander of the fort at Leboeuf informing 
him that the French were trespassing Upon English property 
and that they must abandon the newly built forts. The bearer 
of the message was George Washington, a young major in the 
Virginia militia. 

The French commander received Washington kindly, but re- 
fused to give up the forts and politely hinted that it would 
be well if Governor Dinwiddie would attend to his own busi- 
ness. His reply meant, of course, that if the English wanted 
the Ohio country they would have to fight for it, and this 
the Virginians at once prepared to do. The first thing to be 
done was to gain possession of the Forks of the Ohio. For 
this purpose Dinwiddie, late in 1753, sent a party of men, 
under Captain William Trent, to the Forks, with orders to 
build a log fort there. In the spring of 1754 Washington 

99 



100 

was 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



w.^ sent with a small body of troops to the Forks to help 
Trent build the fort. But before Washington could reach the 
place the French had driven Trent away, finished the fort, 
and taken possession of it. They named the place_ Fort 
Duquesne, in honor of the Governor of Canada. So, m the 
first movement to secure possession of the gateway to the 
West, the French had won and the Virginians had failed. 

The people of all the colonies and the people of England 
also were greatly disturbed by the movements of the French 
on the Ohio. And well they might be. For what did it mean 
to the colonists to have the French in control of the Ohio 
and its head-waters? It meant a stunted growth for the 
colonies ; it meant that the English power would never extend 
farther west than the ridge of the Alleghany Mountains. And 
what did it mean to England herself to have France guard- 
ing the gateway to the West? It meant to England that in 
the end her rival would become the real mistress of all the 
country between the Appalachians and the Rocky Momitains ; 
and this enormous increase of power would make France the 
most powerful nation on earth. No wonder, then, that 
Englishmen on both sides of the ocean demanded that the 
French be driven from Fort Duquesne. 

The Albany Congress. The French could be driven out 
if the colonies would unite their forces, for in union there is 
strength. But at this time there was no union between the 
colonies. Even the New England Confederation (p. 59) was 
no longer in existence. Each colony was quite independent 
of all the others. Maryland acted as if Pennsylvania were 
not in the world, and Pennsylvania acted as if Maryland were 
not in the world. Yet both colonies were equally interested 
in checking the French power. 

In 1754 an attempt was made to form a union between the 
colonies. A Congress composed of twenty-five members, rep- 
resenting seven colonies, met at Albany to consider a plan 
of union. A plan was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin, who 
was widely known both as a philosopher and as a statesman. 
I'nder Franklin's plan there was to be a Grand Council, which 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT loi 

was to have power to levy taxes for the support of an army. 
The Grand Council was to be composed of representatives 
elected by the colonies. Franklin's plan was adopted by the 
Congress, but the colonies were so jealous of each other that 
they were afraid to agree to it. So it was rejected. Although 
the Albany Congress accomplished but little, Franklin con- 
tinued to work in the cause of union, and his efiforts, as we 
shall learn hereafter, were at last crowned with success. 

Defeat of General Braddock. While these fruitless efforts 
for union were being made, England was preparing for war. 
In 1755 General Braddock, with two thousand British soldiers, 
was sent to Virginia with orders to march against Fort 
Duquesne. At Alexandria eight hundred Virginians joined 
him. Washington was made a member of Braddock's staff. 
The army followed the Potomac to the point where the city 
of Cumberland now stands. Here it entered the great forest. 
Three hundred axemen cleared the way for the army, but the 
forward movement was very slow. In eight days the army 
covered only thirty miles. On the morning of July 9, when 
within a few miles of Fort Duquesne, the British were sud- 
denly surprised by French and Indians. Washington ex- 
plained to Braddock that the enemy would fight from behind 
rocks and trees, and that the English would have to fight 
in the same way. But Braddock was as obstinate as he was 
brave, and he would not listen to the young major. He per- 
sisted in fighting in the open, and his soldiers in their bright 
scarlet coats were mowed down by the hidden foe like a field 
of poppies. Nearly eight hundred of his men were killed 
or wounded, while the enemy lost scarcely fifty. He him- 
self was shot through the lungs, and in a few days died. 
Washington during the battle was calm and self-possessed. 
Four bullets were sent through his clothing and two horses 
were killed under him, yet he escaped unhurt. When Brad- 
dock fell, Washington took charge of the troops and led them 
out of the trap into which they had fallen. If the young 
major had not rescued them, every one of the soldiers would 
doubtless have been killed or captured. 



102 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The European Background of the French and Indian War. 

The struggle in which Washington was now taking such a 
noble part is known in American history as the French and 
Indian War. It was given this name because the Indians for 




Scene of the French and Indian War 

the most part fought on the side of the French. All the red- 
men, however, did not fight on that side, for the powerful 
Iroquois tribes remained friendly to the English. 

The European background of the French and Indian War 
was the Seven Years' War. This mighty struggle began in 
Europe in 1756 and spread to Africa and Asia. The war was 
waged against Frederick the Great of Prussia for the pur- 
pose of compelling him to give back to Austria territory which 
he had taken from that country in a previous war. The na- 
tions which combined against Frederick were Austria, France 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT 103 

and Russia. Great Britain threw her aid to Frederick, be- 
cause France was not only threatening British interests in 
America but was also trying to drive the British out of India. 
The Seven Years' War, therefore, was a contest in which 
Great Britain had great things at stake; if France should 
win, the British power in America and Asia would 
suflfer and France would become the leading nation of the 
world. 

The French and Indian War, With the outbreak of the 
Seven Years' War the French and Indian War began in 
earnest. Even before England formally declared war against 
France the English government had laid plans for doing four 
things in America: (i) to gain the mastery of the seacoast by 
ihe recapture of Louisburg (p. 94) and by seizing the French 
forts in Acadia (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) ; (2) to 
take Fort Duquesne ; (3) to take the French fort at Niagara; 
(4) to take Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, and move 
northward from that point and capture Quebec. 

In June, 1755, the English sailed into the Bay of Fundy 
and captured the French forts on the neck of land which con- 
nects Nova Scotia with the mainland. This isthmus, with 
the country round about, was usually known as Acadia. ♦ The 
Acadians were simple, peaceable farmers, but they were a 
headstrong folk, and they would not acknowledge their English 
captors as their masters. So the English determined to rid 
the land of them. One day (September 5, 1755) when the 
people were in the churches at worship, soldiers appeared and 
seized the men, women, and children — seven thousand in all 
— and hurried them aboard ships which carried them south- 
ward, scattering them along the coast all the way to North 
Carolina. 

After the capture of Acadia the war dragged on and the 
English did little of importance until 1758, when William Pitt, 
one of England's great statesmen and a warm friend of the 
colonies, took charge of afifairs. Pitt gave new life to the war. 
He pushed the conquest of Nova Scotia, and in a few months 
the great fortress of Louisburg was again in the hands of the 



104 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

English, and the gateway of the St. Lawrence was closed 
upon the French. 

In 1758 also the English finished another of the four great 
things they had planned to do — the taking of Fort Duquesne. 
General Forbes, assisted by troops from Pennsylvania and 
Virginia, marched forth to make a second attack upon this 
important stronghold. At the head of the Virginians, clad in 
their fringed leather hunting-shirts, was Washington, now 
raised to the rank of colonel. The army was prepared for 
fierce fighting, but when the fort was reached it was a heap 
of smoking ruins. The French set it on fire and abandoned 
it. It passed into the hands of the English without a blow, 
and was named Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh), in honor of the 
man who was doing so much for the success of the war. 

Pitt caused one victory to follow fast upon the heels of an- 
other. In July, 1759, Sir William Johnson of western New 
York, who lived among the Iroquois Indians and was their 
leader, moved against the fort at Niagara and captured it. 
Three of the great things the English had planned to do had 
now been done : the seaboard had been won, and Fort Du- 
quesne and Fort Niagara had been captured. Pitt had spread 
his n'et wisely and was fast closing in on his game. The 
capture of Duquesne and Niagara entirely cut off the French 
in Canada from the Ohio valley, and the capture of Louis- 
burg cut them off from the sea. 

About the time Johnson was attacking Niagara, General 
Amherst, with a large army, moved upon Crown Point, but 
when he reached the fort the French had fled. It had been 
planned that he should proceed northward and assist Gen- 
eral Wolfe in taking Quebec, but he failed to do this, and 
Wolfe moved against the fortress alone. All the world knows 
of the dangerous and brave assault he made and of the glory 
of his success. In the dead of night, at the head of his men, 
he clambered up the rocky steps that led to the fortress, and 
when the sun rose he had five thousand troops drawn up in 
battle array on the Plains of Abraham (September 13, 1759). 
Here he faced Montcalm, a general as brave as himself. The 




BEFORE THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 




AFTER THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT 



105 



battle was severe and bloody. Both generals were killed. 
Wolfe, while in the agonies of death, heard some one say: 
"They fly! They fly!" "Who fly?" said Wolfe. "The 
French," was the reply. " Then I die happy," said the general. 
Montcalm also was calm and great to the last. When he was 
told that his wound was mortal and that he could live only 



"1 




Quebec About 1750 

a few hours, he answered : " So much the better ; I shall not 
live to see the surrender of Quebec." He died before the 
city surrendered. 

The Results of the French and Indian War ; — the Treaty 
of 1763. With the surrender of Quebec to the English (Sep- 
tember, 1759) the French and Indian War practically came to 
an end. But the results of the conflict could not be fully 
known until the Seven Years' War should be finished. That 
great struggle continued until 1763 and when it was over 
England found herself on the side that had won the victory. 
The outcome of the war, as far as America was concerned, 
could be seen in the treaty of Paris, signed in 1763. By this 
famous treaty France lost every foot of the land she had in 
North America excepting two insignificant islands, Miquelon 
and St. Pierre. Her possessions west of the Mississippi 



io6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

went to Spain, and those east of the Mississippi went to Eng- 
land Florida also was ceded to England. On the day that 
the treaty was signed New Orleans was ceded by France to 
Spain and soon the Spanish flag was waving over that city. 
But after 1763 the French flag waved nowhere in America 
except on the two little islands ofif the coast of Newfoundland. 
Thus the Seven Years' War brought great glory and power to 
England, and thus the French and Indian War resulted in 
the downfall of France in America. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the efforts of the French and English to gain 
possession of the Forks of the Ohio. Why were the English alarmed 
at the loss of the Forks? 

2. Tell the story of the Albany Congress. 

3. Describe the defeat of General Braddock. 

4. What was the European background of the French and Indian 
War? 

5. In the French and Indian War what was the English plan of 
campaign? Give an account of the capture of Acadia and Louisburg. 
Describe the capture of Fort Duquesne. When and by whom was Fort 
Niagara taken? Tell the story of the capture of Quebec. 

6. What were the terms of the treaty of 1763? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1585, 1629, 1689 (2) 

2. Persons: Balboa, Magellan, De Soto, John Winthrop, James 
Oglethorpe, Marquette, La Salle. 

3. Tell what you can about: The Line of Demarcation; the Pil- 
grims; the Puritans; the Pennsylvania Dutch; the Scotch-Irish. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The French in North America; Wars 
before 1783; Steps in the Formation of the Union; European Back- 
ground; Treaties; Claims of Different Nations at Different Times. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Mission of Washington: Parkman, 335-338. 

(2) Braddock's Defeat: Eggleston, 128-132; Parkman, 343- 

350. 
(3) Read in the class. The Acadians : Lane and Flill, 72-77. 

(4) General Wolfe : Parkman, 369-379. 
(5) The Capture of Quebec: Hart, 105-107; Hitchcock, 63-78. 

(6) The Results of Victory: Parkman, 457-460. 



XVIII 
OVER THE MOUNTAINS 

The victory over the French in the French and Indian War 
gave the entire Mississippi valley east of the Mississippi River to 
the English. So the colonists were now free to push out over the 
mountains and make settlements in the valley beyond. This they 
at once began to do. How did the colonists deal with the Indian 
tribes of the region ? How was the country beyond the mountains 
opened up for settlement? And what was the early history of 
these early settlements in the West ? 

Clearing the Way for the White Man. Now that the Ohio 
country had fallen into the possession of the English, the 
colonists could make their settlements beyond the mountains 
without any fear of being disturbed by the French. But 
there were still lurking in the forests fierce Indians who did 
not want the Englishmen to settle among them. Tlie red 
men were afraid the English would drive them from their 
hunting-grounds. Even before the close of the French and 
Indian War the white man had begun to invade the country. 
So when the Ohio valley passed under the full control of the 
English the savages became alarmed and threatened to rebel 
against their new masters. 

The English government, wishing to avoid trouble with the 
Indians, at first tried to make friends of them and get along 
with them on terms of peace. In 1763 the King of England 
issued a proclamation reserving most of the newly acquired 
territory for the use of the Indians. He described a line 
dividing the territory lying west of the heads or sources of 
the rivers flowing into the Atlantic from the territory lying 
east of these sources, and reserved for the Indians the lands 
lying west of the line. By this proclamation the white man 
was shut out from all the land lying between the Alleghanies 

107 



io8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

and the :^Iississippi. The colonists were greatly displeased 
by the proclamation, for it gave to the Indians the largest and 
best part of the territory that had just been taken from the 
French. If the King's plan had been carried out English 
civilization would have been confined to the seaboard, and one 
of the richest and fairest regions of the earth would have 
been permanently reserved as a hunting-ground for Indians 
and a lair for wild beasts. 

But the King's plan was never carried out. His proclama- 
tion came too late to secure the good will of the red men. Be- 
fore his purposes were made known to the Indians, they had 
entered into a conspiracy to drive every Englishman out of 
the Ohio valley. The leader of this conspiracy was Pontiac, 
a chief of the Ottawas. In the spring of 1763 Pontiac and 
his followers made their attack. They fell upon the whites 
who had moved out into the Ohio valley, and hundreds of 
families were murdered and hundreds of homes were burned. 
But Pontiac was soon brought to terms. In 1764 an English 
general led a body of troops into the heart of the Indian coun- 
try, and the savages were defeated. Pontiac for a while con- 
tinued to fight, but at last (in 1766) he was compelled to sub- 
mit to the rule of the English. 

Early Settlements in the Upper Ohio Valley. After the 
defeat of Pontiac, pioneers moved out into the western coun- 
try in greater numbers than ever before. In 1765 they laid 
out ground for the town of Pittsburgh. Many settlers found 
homes in the Monongahela valley. By 1770 about fifteen hun- 
dred whites were living in the country between the Ohio and 
the Monongahela rivers. Among the first pioneers to seek 
homes across the mountains were the Scotch-Irish, who, as 
we have already learned (p. 86), began at an early date to 
press westward in Pennsylvania. In 1769 a " God-fearing, 
Bible-loving Scotch Presbyterian " named Ebenezer Zane 
built a house at the mouth of Wheeling Creek and laid the 
foundation of the city of Wheeling. 

Kentucky. But the part of the Ohio valley to which 
IMoneers at this time went out in greatest numbers was the 



OVER THE MOUNTAINS 



109 



stretch of country now included within the borders of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. This region was a neutral hunting- 
ground for northern and southern Indians. The red men 
hunted over it. but did not live permanently upon it or claim 
it as their own. The district, therefore, was a safer place 
for settlements than were the surrounding regions, where 
the Indians had permanent homes. 




Early Kentucky and Tennessee 

In 1769 Daniel Boone, a great hunter and one of the most 
interesting of American pioneers, left his home on the Yad- 
kin River, in North Carolina, to seek the wilderness of Ken- 
tucky. With five companions he passed through the gorges of 
the Cumberland Gap and reached the blue-grass region — 
" a land of running waters, of groves and glades, of prairies, 
cane-brakes, and stretches of lofty forests." 

Boone returned to North Carolina, but not to remain. His 
restless spirit still yearned for the beautiful banks of far- 
off Kentucky. In 1773 he sold his farm, and, with his wife 
and children and about fifty persons besides, started for Ken- 
tucky for the purpose of making a permanent settlement 
there. On the way, however, the party was attacked by In- 
dians — for even in this neutral territory the Indians were 
sometimes troublesome — and Boone and his companions were 
compelled to turn back. 

But the fame of the Kentucky country was now wide- 
spread, and its settlement was near at hand. In 1774 James 
Harrod of Virginia, with fifty men. floated down the Ohio River 
in flat-boats, and, ascending the Kentucky River, selected the 



1,0 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

present site of Harrodsburg as a place for a settlement and 
built some cabins. "The place was given the name of Harrods- 
town (afterward Harrodsburg) and was the first permanent 
settlement in Kentucky. The next year Boone safely reached 
Kentucky and founded the town of Boonesborough. In 1775, 
Mso the first house was built in Lexington, and two years 
later the foundations of Louisville were laid. The settlement 
of the district now went on rapidly, and within a very few 

years more than twenty 
thousand whites were 
living within the 
boundaries of Ken- 
tucky. 

Tennessee. While 
Boone and his follow- 
ers were laying the 
foundations for a State 
on the banks of the 
Kentucky, other pio- 
neers from North Car- 
olina and Virginia were 
laying the foundations 
for another State on 
the banks of the 
streams that flow into 
the Tennessee. In the very year (1769) that Boone visited the 
blue-grass region, William Bean of Virginia built himself a 
log cabin on the Watauga River. Pioneers came and settled 
near Bean, and in a short time several hundred people had their 
homes on the banks of the Watauga. Xhis Watauga settlement 
was the beginning of the State of Tennessee. 

The Tennessee region belonged to North Carolina, and the 
people of Watauga depended upon that colony to give them 
protection and to provide them with a good government. This 
North Carolina failed to do. It left its little child in the 
woods to get along as best it could by its. own exertions. So 
the settlers of Watauga did what the settlers of the Connecti- 




Daniel Boone at Close Range with 
an Indian 



OVER THE MOUNTAINS in 

cut valley had done long before (p. 57). They drew up (in 
1772) a plan of government — a written constitution — and 
proceeded to govern themselves. And the records show that 
their government was effective and that their justice was 
swift. In one case a horse-thief was arrested on Monday, 
tried on Wednesday, and hanged on Friday of the same week. 
The " Articles of the Watauga Association " — as the rude 
constitution of the backwoodsmen was called — was the first 
written constitution ever adopted west of the Alleghany Moun- 
tains, and the first ever adopted by American-born freemen. 

Thus, within a few years after the French were driven out 
of the Mississippi valley, pioneers from the English colonies 
found their way over the mountains and began settlements 
that in time grew to be great States. For the settlements of 
Harrod and Boone were the beginnings of Kentucky, while 
the log cabin of William Bean was the beginning of Ten- 
nessee. 

Life in the Backwoods. The pioneers of Kentucky and 
Tennessee lived the life of the backwoods in a world by them- 
selves. They were completely cut off from the homes they 
had left behind them, for as yet there were no roads leading 
from the seaboard to the West. The loneliness and dangers 
and hardships of the backwoods have been well described 
for us by Philip Doddridge, who was himself a backwoods- 
man. From the writings of this pioneer we learn how dif- 
ferent the life of the backwoodsman was from the life we 
lead to-day. 

" Let the imagination," says Doddridge, " pursue the track 
of the adventurer into the solitary wilderness. He ascertains 
the cardinal points of north and south by the thickness of the 
moss and bark on the north side of the ancient trees. His 
restless eye catches everything around him. In an unknown 
region and surrounded with dangers, he is the sentinel of his 
own safety and relies on himself alone for protection. The 
toilsome march of the day being ended, at the fall of night he 
seeks for safety some narrow hollow and by the side of a 



,12 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

large log builds a fire, and after eating his coarse and scanty 
meal, wrap^ himself up m his blanket and lays him down on 

his bed of leaves with his 
feet to the little fire, while 
his faithful dog and gun re- 
pose by his side. 

" The pilgrim of the wil- 
derness was an exile from 
the warm clothing and plen- 
tiful mansions of society. 
His homely woodsman's 
dress soon became old and 
ragged ; the cravings of 
hunger compelled him to 
sustain from day to day the 
fatigues of the chase. 
Often had he to eat his 
venison, bear meat, or wild 
turkey without bread or 
salt. He did not know at 
what tread his foot might 
be stung by a serpent ; at 
what moment he might meet with the formidable bear ; or, if in 
the evening, he knew not on what limb of a tree over his head 
the murderous panther might be perched to drop upon him 
and tear him to pieces. A broken limb, a wound of any kind, 
or a fit of sickness in the wilderness without those accommoda- 
tions which wounds and sickness require, was a dreadful 
calamity." 

The pioneer's home was a rude cabin made of unhewn logs, 
and usually the cabin was a one-story afifair. The table was 
a thick heavy board set on four wooden legs ; the only chairs 
were three-legged stools. The tableware consisted of wooden 
dishes. The bedstead was made of rough poles, and the hides 
of animals served as bed-clothes. Most of the pioneer's 
clothes were made of skins. 

Every pioneer was a soldier, for there was always danger 




An American Backwoodsman 



OVER THE MOUNTAINS 113 

of war with the Indians who were lurking round about with 
mischief in their hearts. " Although," says Doddridge, " there 
was no legal compulsion to the performance of military duty, 
yet every man was expected to do his full share of public serv- 
ice. If he did not do so he was hated as a coward." 

The life of the backwoodsmen was indeed one of hard- 
ship and danger and suffering; but it was a life that made men 
strong and brave and free. We shall see that some of Amer- 
ica's greatest men spent their early days in the backwoods 
country of Kentucky and Tennessee. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Why were the Indians in the Ohio valley afraid of the English? 
What attempt did the English make to live on terms of peace with the 
Indians? Tell the story of Pontiac. 

2. What early settlements were made in the upper Ohio valley? 

3. Tell the story of Boone and the early settlement of Kentucky. 

4. Give an account of the settlement of Tennessee. 

5. Describe the life led by the backwoodsmen of Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1522, 1643. 1763. 

2. Persons : Roger Williams, James Oglethorpe, Marquette, La Salle, 
Washington, Franklin, Braddock, Wolfe. 

3. Tell what you can about the Pennsylvania Dutch; the Scotch- 
Irish. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Discovery and Exploration; The 
Westward Movement; Indians; Agriculture; Indians and Inflian Wars. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Pontiac's Conspiracy: Parkman, 473-478. 
(2)" Daniel Boone and the Founding of Kentucky : The West- 
ward Movement, 69-81. _ 

(3) The Story of Pontiac: Whitney, 53-110. 

(4) Heroines of the Westward Movement: Bruce, 115-156. 

(5) Daniel Boone, Backwoodsman: Faris, 37-50. 



XIX 

THE MOTHER COUNTRY AND THE COLONIES 
QUARREL 

At the time the backwoodsmen of Kentucky and Tennessee were 
building their first cabins in the wilderness beyond the Alleghanies, 
the colonists along the seashore were engaged in a bitter quarrel 
with the mother country. What led to this quarrel between Great 
Britain and the colonies? What efforts were made to settle the 
quarrel? What acts of violence made a settlement impossible? 

The Quarrel About Taxation. The ink on the treaty of 
Paris (p. 105) was hardly dry before there arose between Eng- 
land and her colonies a bitter quarrel, and the quarrel led to a 
bitter war. The trouble arose over the matter of taxation. 
At the close of the French and Indian War the English gov- 
ernment found itself very heavily in debt and hard pressed 
for money, and in casting about for means of raising money 
it very naturally turned to the American colonies. These colo- 
nies, said the King and Parliament, are protected by England 
at a great expense, and they must help to pay for the cost of 
that protection ; they must pay a share of the taxes. But 
the taxes that the English government wished to collect from 
the colonists were all to be spent in the colonies. It was hot 
the purpose of England to tax Americans for the benefit of 
Englishmen. All the money raised by the proposed taxes 
was to be spent in the colonies for their own benefit. 

There was nothing unfair in asking the colonies to share 
in meeting the expenses for their own protection; and if the 
English government had gone about raising the money in a 
way that seemed to the Americans to be fair, the taxes would 
probably have been paid and there would have been no quar- 
rel. But it did not do this. In its efforts to collect the money 
the English government acted so unwisely that it seemed to 
the Americans to be acting unfairly and unjustly. 

114 



d/chiirdu or mojwf u^t ef /lomff 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY AND COLONIES QUARREL 115 

Writs of Assistance. Even before the close of the French 
and Indian War, England had offended the colonists by harsh 

methods of carrying r ■ 1 

out the revenue laws. f^^ f^cvkCo. 

For many years 
there had been a 
great deal of smug- 
gling ; that is to say, 
foreign goods that 
ought to have paid 
taxes were brought 
into the colonies in a 
secret manner and 
no taxes were paid. 
Smuggling was so A Warning 

common that it was carried on almost everywhere by almost 
everybody. Even high officers of government shared in the 
profits of smuggling. In order to stop the unlawful practice 
the English government in 1761 issued what was known as 
" writs of assistance." A writ of this kind enabled the revenue 
officer to enter private houses and search for smuggled good^. 
The writs were very unpopular and were deeply resented by the 
colonists. In Massachusetts they were opposed by James Otis 
in a speech of such eloquence and power that it was regarded as 
the opening gun of the Revolution ; for America was now on 
the eve of a revolution. 

The Stamp Apt. Far worse than the writs of assistance 
was the Stamp Act, which Parliament passed in 1765. • This 
law undertook to compel the colonists to place government 
stamps on documents such as promissory notes, deeds, mort- 
gages, and wills, and also on such publications as newspapers, 
pamphlets, and almanacs. The stamps were to be sold at 
prices varying from a halfpenny (one cent) to ten pounds 
(fifty dollars). Newspapers and almanacs that were not prop- 
erly stamped were not to be circulated or sold, and legal docu- 
ments without the stamps were to have no value. 

" No Taxation Without Representation." When the 



„(, HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

nPws reached America that the Stamp Act was to be put into 

Xt olonists at once began to fight it. In Boston the 

tVnp commissioner -the officer who was to sell the stam.s 

" L hun<. in effigy and his office torn down. In Virgima 

— uas nun^ ^y Patrick Henry hurried 

through the Assembly 
a resolution declaring 
that the people of Vir- 
ginia need not pay 
taxes that were not or- 
dered to be paid by 
their chosen represen- 
tatives. *' No taxation 
without representa- 
tion " became the pop- 
ular cry and fiery pro- 
tests against the Stamp 
Act were made in 
every colony. 

The most powerful 
protest against the 
Stamp Act was made 
by the Stamp Act Con- 
gress, which met in 
New York in October, 
1765. This Congress 
was composed of dele- 
gates from nine colo- 
Samuel Adams nies — Massachusetts, 

Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina. After dis- 
cussing the subject for three weeks the Congress declared — 
and sent copies of the declaration to the King and Parliament 
— that the colonies could not be taxed internally — that is, the 
people of a colony could not be taxed directly — unless they 
were represented in the British Parliament. It then went on 
to express the opinion that it was impossible for the colonies 




THE MOTHER COUNTRY AND COLONIES QUARREL 117 

to be represented in the British Parliament. This was as much 
as to say that Parhament had no right to tax the colonies at all. 
And that is what the colonists really meant. 

English Friends of America. In this quarrel about taxa- 
tion some powerful leaders in England were on the side of the 
Americans. Lord Camden, a member of Parliament, said : 
" My Lords, you have no right to tax America. The natural 
rights of man and the immutable laws of nature are with that 
people." William Pitt (p. 104), another member of Parliament, 
said in the House of Commons: " Sir, I rejoice that America 
has resisted." The great Edmund Burke also was opposed 
to taxing the Americans. He said that Parliament had the 
right to tax the colonies, but that it was foolish to attempt to 
exercise the right. 

Burke spoke the truth. Parliament soon learned that it 
was useless to try to enforce the Stamp Act. So the measure 
was speedily (in 1766) repealed. But, along with the repeal, 
Parliament made a declaration to the effect that it had a per- 
fect right to tax the colonies if it so desired. Such a declara- 
tion was unnecessary and unwise, but it was forgotten in the 
general rejoicing that followed the repeal of the stamp law. 

The Townshend Acts. But the repeal of the Stamp Act did 
not settle the question that had been raised ; for the very next 
year Parliament passed what were known as the Townshend 
Acts, which provided that taxes should be imposed on glass, 
paper, lead, paints, and tea when these articles were brought 
into American ports. The money raised by these taxes was 
to be spent by England in paying the salaries of governors, 
judges, and other colonial olBcers. Here was trouble indeed; 
for, while the colonists did not object outright to paying ex- 
ternal taxes, — that is, taxes on imported goods, — they did ob- 
ject to Parliament fixing the salaries of colonial officers and 
then levying internal taxes with which to pay these salaries. 
This objection made the Townshend Acts as hateful as the 
Stamp Act had been. 

Samuel Adams of Massachusetts wrote and sent to King 



,i8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

George a petition asking that the acts be repealed. When he 
had finished the document his daughter remarked that it would 
soon be touched by the royal hand. " More likely, my dear," 
he replied. " it will be spurned by the royal foot." Adams 
knew the King only too well. George III was not disposed 
to listen to petitions from the colonists; he intended to rule 
them with a rod of iron if he could. " We shall grant nothing 
to America," said one of the King's ministers, " except what 
they may ask with a halter about their necks." 

The colonists did not think of giving up the struggle simply 
because their petition was spurned. They threw all their 
strength against the enforcement of the Townshend Acts, 
and forced Parliament (in 1770) to take ofif the taxes on all 
the articles except tea. This was retained as a matter of 
principle. " There must be one tax," said Lord North, " to 
keep up the right." The colonists resisted the tax on tea as 
a matter of principle. It was a very light tax (six cents a 
pound), it is true, but the Americans saw clearly enough that 
if Parliament, by way of taxation, could take a penny from 
their pockets it could just as easily take a pound. 

The Boston Massacre. On the day that Parliament was 
voting to keep the tax on the tea, there occurred in Boston 
another event that widened the breach between England and 
her colonies. This was a shooting afifair called the Boston 
Massacre. For several years George HI had kept British 
troops stationed at Boston, and the presence of the redcoats 
was very displeasing to the citizens. One night (March 5, 
1770) a crowd gathered around a soldier who was on guard 
in front of the custom-house and began to pelt him. A file of 
nine soldiers hurried to the aid of their comrade. The crowd 
stood its ground and threw snowballs at the soldiers and dared 
them to fire. They fired and killed four men. 

Trouble About the Tea ; Striking a Blow for Americanism. 
When the news went out through the colonies that the King's 
soldiers were shooting innocent citizens in the streets of Bos- 
ton, Americans were thrown into a fighting mood. They re- 
sented more deeply than ever the presence of the British 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY AND COLONIES QUARREL 119 

troops, and were more willing than ever to keep up the quarrel 
with England. The trouble about the tea became serious in- 
deed. In 1773 ships laden with tea arrived at New York, 
Philadelphia, and Boston. The tea on these ships, as we have 
learned, was subject to a tax, but the English government had 
so arranged matters that if the colonists would only buy they 
could pay the tax and still get the tea cheaper than they could 
get it anywhere else. But the colonists would not buy. The 
ships bound for New York and Philadelphia turned back 
without landing their cargoes. In Boston the arrival of the 
tea was followed by an act of downright lawlessness. A 
band of men dressed as Indians boarded the vessels carrying 
the tea and threw into Boston harbor the contents of three 
hundred chests. 

The Boston merchants rejoiced when the tea was destroyed ; 
and well they might rejoice, for in its landing they saw loss 
and ruin for themselves. The English government had given 
to the company that owned the tea — the powerful East India 
Company (p. 39) — the right to establish stores in America. 
Since these stores could sell tea much more cheaply than it 
could be sold anywhere else, the American merchants were 
afraid that the East India Company would drive all its ri- 
vals out of business and establish a monopoly ; that is, it would 
sell practically every pound of tea sold in America. In op- 
posing the landing of the tea, therefore, the colonists were 
fighting monopoly. At the same time, they were striking 
a blow for xA.mericanism. For Americans hate monopoly and 
they have always set their faces firmly against it. 

The " Intolerable Acts." The throwing overboard of the 
tea at Boston angered England more than anything the colo- 
nists had yet done. Petitions and protests and fiery speeches 
could do little harm, but the wan-ton destruction of property 
was serious. Parliament quickly resolved to bring the " Bos- 
ton rebels " to their senses. It passed what the Americans 
called the " Intolerable Acts ": (i) no ship could enter or leave 
the port of Boston until the town had paid for the destroyed 
tea; (2) Massachusetts should be deprived of free government; 



120 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




The Boston Massacre 

(3) any persons indicted in Massachusetts' for murder or 
other capital crime because of anything done by him in execut- 
ing the revenue laws, suppressing riots, and performing his 
duties as a magistrate, might, in case a fair trial could not 
be secured in Massachusetts, be tried in another colony or in 
Great Britain; (4) troops should be quartered in Boston. 
These four acts. Parliament thought, would starve and beat 
Massachusetts into submission. 

Thirteen Clocks Strike at the Same Time. It was the idea 
of the iMiglish government that Massachusetts would have to 
fight her battles alone ; but in this England was mistaken. The 
colonies were all on the side of the Bostonians. Virginia 
especially proved to be a warm friend. " If need be," said 
Washington, " I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at 
my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief 
of Boston." The spirit of Virginia was the spirit of all the 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY AND COLONIES QUARREL 121 

colonies, from New Hampshire to Georgia. No colony was 
going to stand idly by and see another colony crushed. 

But the colonies were held together by no bond of union. 
The great difficulty, said John Adams, was to get the thirteen 
clocks (meaning the thirteen colonies) to strike at the same 
time. The difficulties of disunion, however, grew less as the 
danger grew greater. One thing that helped to bring the 
colonies together was the formation of committees of corre- 
spondence. In Massachusetts, under the leadership of Samuel 
Adams, such committees were established for the purpose of 
communicating with the other colonies in reference to measures 
that the colonists ought to take to protect themselves. Other 
colonies followed the example of Massachusetts in organizing 
committees of correspondence, and, largely through the influ- 
ence of these committees, the colonies were so organized that 
they could act together, all the thirteen clocks could strike at 
the same time. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Why did England after the French and Indian War undertake to 
tax the colonies? Why did the colonies object? 

2. What were the writs of assistance? 

3. Describe the Stamp Act. 

4. Give an account of the Stamp Act Congress. What English 
leaders were on the side of America? 

5. What were the Townshend Acts? Why was the tax on tea not 
repealed ? 

6. Tell the story of the Boston Massacre. 

7. Give an account of the trouble about the tea. What principle of 
Americanism was involved in the trouble about the tea? 

8. What were the Intolerable Acts? 

9. To what extent did the colonists stand together? What were the 
committees of correspondence? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1588, 1689 (2), 1763. 

2. Persons : Cabot, De Soto, Raleigh, George Calvert, Marquette, 
La Salle, Washington, Franklin, Braddock, Wolfe, Daniel Boone. 

3. Reviews of Great Subjects: Steps in the Formation of the 
Union ; English Colonization ; Americanism. 



XX 

INDEPENDENCE DECLARED 

When the English government undertook to carry the Intolerable 
Acts into effect it found itself opposed by a force of American 
soldiers. Bloody encounters between the Americans and the 
British followed, a central government was established by the 
colonies, and independence was declared. 

First Continental Congress. The King at once took 
measures to carry the " Intolerable Acts " into effect. General 
Gage was made Governor of Massachusetts, and more sol- 
diers were sent to Boston. The harbor of that city was closed 
to all incoming and outgoing vessels. This harsh treatment 
led to the calling of a Congress — known as the First Con- 
tinental Congress — which met at Philadelphia ( September 
5, 1774). At this Congress there were delegates from all the 
colonies except Georgia. Observe how the movement for 
imion among the colonies was gaining strength. In the New 
England Confederation (p. 59) four colonies were represented; 
at the Albany Congress (p. 100) seven colonies; at the Stamp 
Act Congress nine colonies ; in the First Continental Congress 
twelve colonies. 

The First Continental Congress declared that no govern- 
ment had the right to deprive Americans of their life, liberty, 
or property, and asserted that the colonists had every right that 
an Englishman had. It declared that the colonies could not 
be taxed, except by their own Assemblies, and it planned for 
an " American Association," the purpose of which was to 
prevent the bringing of British goods into the colonies. But 
the most important thing done by this Congress w^as to pass 
the following resolution of sympathy : " That this Congress 
approves the opposition of the inhabitants of Massachusetts 
to the execution of the late acts of Parliament [the " Intolera- 
ble Acts "J, and if the same shall be attempted to be carried 



INDEPENDENCE DECLARED 



123 



■ Concord 



into execution by force, in such case all America ought to sup- 
port them in their opposition." 

Fighting Begins: Lexington; Concord. The country was 
not long in finding out that England intended to use force 
in dealing with Massachusetts. By the end of 1774 Gage was 
throwiing up fortifications around Boston, and the streets of 
the town were resounding with the clangor of British arms. 
The Americans in the meanwhile were preparing to meet force 
with force. In the towns around Boston companies and regi- 
ments of colonists were forming and men were being drilled 
for active warfare. Before the winter of 1775 had passed, 
eastern Massachusetts was bristling with armed troops. 

The ring-leaders on the American side in Massachusetts 
were Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Gage received or- 
ders that these two men should be arrested and sent to Eng- 
land for trial. 
About the time they 
were wanted they 
were staying at the 
house of a friend in 
Lexington, a town a 
few miles out of 
Boston. On the 
night of the i8th of 
April, 1775, Gage 
sent out 800 men 
Lexington and Concord from Boston to Lex- 

ington to arrest Adams and Hancock, giving orders that after 
the arrest they should march on to Concord and seize some am- 
munition that was stored there. The British undertook to do 
everything in secret, but the eyes of the Americans were on 
them. As soon as it was known that the troops had started, a 
light in the belfry of the North Church flashed the news to Paul 
Revere in Charlestown. Revere took horse and galloped to 
Lexington, shouting as he went that the British were approach- 
ing. At Lexington he informed Adams and Hancock, and the 
two patriots, slipping away, escaped arrest. 




124 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

When the British reached Lexington at daybreak they found 
the people in arms. Fifty minute-men — men ready to fight at 
a minute's notice — were drawn up in battle array on the village 
green. " Disperse, ye villains," shouted Major Pitcairn, the 
British officer. The minute-men did not move. Pitcairn's 
soldiers then fired, killing eight men and wounding ten. The 
minute-men, seeing the folly of resisting so great a force, dis- 
persed. 

At Concord the tables were turned. There the British had 
to face 400 minute-men, while other patriots were pouring 
in from every direction. The fighting took place at the Con- 
cord Bridge, where 

Once the embattled farmers stood 
And fired the shot heard round the world. 

In the battle the British soon had the worst of it and began 
to retreat to Boston. But the retreat was more disastrous 
than the pitched battle. All along the roadside minute-men 
from behind houses and trees and stone fences peppered the 
flying British, with such deadly results that by the time they 
reached Boston they had lost in killed and wounded nearly 
three hundred of their number. 

Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Everybody knew that a 
bloody struggle had now begun, and wherever a blow could 
be given it was dealt. Benedict Arnold saw that the Ameri- 
cans ought to have possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point 
(map p. 137), and he straightway marched against these forts. 
Their capture had also been planned by Ethan Allen, a dash- 
ing leader of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont. Arnold 
and Allen, acting together, with a few troops surprised Ti- 
conderoga and demanded its surrender. The commander of 
the fort inquired of Allen by what authority he was acting. 
" In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Con- 
gress," replied Allen. The fort had but a handful of men 
and was compelled to surrender (May 10, 1775). The sur- 
render of Crown Point quickly followed. 

Second Continental Congress. On the very day that Ti- 



INDEPENDENCE DECLARED 



125 



conderoga was taken the Second Continental Congress met 
in Philadelphia. This time all the colonies sent delegates. In 
this Congress were many of the those great leaders who laid 
the foundation of our Republic. From Massachusetts came 
Adams and Hancock, who a few weeks before had escaped 
from the hands of the British ; from New York, Robert Liv- 
ingston and John Jay ; from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Frank- 
lin; from Virginia, Washington and Patrick Henry and 
Richard Henry Lee. 

The previous congresses had acted like debating societies ; 
they had simply dis- 
cussed questions and 
passed resolutions. 

But the Second Conti- 
nental Congress began 
to act like a real gov- 
ernment. It put itself 
into communication 
with foreign powers ; it 
managed postal affairs ; 
it took charge of the 
army that was gather- 
ing around Boston. Who was to be placed at the head of this 
army? The man chosen was sitting in the Congress in his 
uniform, a man whose lofty stature and noble bearing pro- 
claimed him a born leader of men — George Washington. 
When the choice had been made, Washington rose and said: 
" Since the Congress desires, I will enter upon the momentous 
duty and exert every power I possess in their service and for 
the support of the glorious cause." 

Bunker Hill. Washington hurried northward to the scene 
of his duties ; but before he reached Boston great things had 
taken place there. A few weeks after the Lexington affair 
an army of 15,000 colonial troops drawn up in the form of a 
great semicircle, was pressing in upon Boston with the purpose 
of compelling the British troops to take to their ships and leave 
the town. 




\| ISLAND 



Boston and Bunker Hill 



126 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Both the Americans and the British wanted to get posses- 
sion of the hills around Boston, and on the night of the 15th 
of June. Colonel William Prescott, with 1200 Americans, made 
his way silently to Breed's Hill,'' on the Charlestown penin- 
sula (map p. 125), and began to throw up embankments. 
Early the next morning the British general, Howe, was on 
the spot with troops to drive the Americans from their posi- 
tion. Twice the British rushed up the hill, and twice they 
were driven back with terrible loss. A third attempt was 
made. By this time the Americans had exhausted their am- 
munition and could no longer hold their ground. They re- 
treated to the mainland, leaving the British in possession of the 
field. Though the British won the battle, a few more such vic- 
tories would have meant the destruction of their entire army, 
for they lost 1054 men, while the Americans' loss was only 449. 

Washington in Charge of the American Army. When 
Washington arrived in Boston he found an army that was raw 
and inexperienced, but the news of Bunker Hill assured him 
that it was an army that could fight. Among its officers were 
Daniel Morgan, John Stark, Nathanael Greene, Henry Knox, 
and Israel Putnam. W^ashington took command at once and 
began the difficult task of preparing the undisciplined troops 
for regular fighting. 

While Washington was drilling his army and providing il 
with ammunition and supplies, Richard Montgomery and Bene- 
dict Arnold undertook to capture Quebec. Montgomery ad- 
vanced by way of Lake Champlain. Arnold led his men 
through the Maine wilderness. On the way food gave out, 
and the hunger of the soldiers became such that they devoured 
their dogs. The two armies joined in the valley of the St. 
Lawrence and laid siege to Quebec (December 31, 1775). 
Montgomery was killed and Arnold was wounded. Quebec 
was not taken and the expedition was a failure. 

At the beginning of the spring of 1776 Washington had his 

^The Americans, in the darkness, mistook Breed's Hill for Bunker 
Hill, which they had intended to fortify and which gave its name to 
the battle. 



INDEPENDENCE DECLARED 



127 







Drafting the Declaration of Independence 

army so well equipped and organized that he determined to 
give battle to the British in Boston. On the night of March 4 
he quietly fortified Dorchester Heights (map, p. 125), which 
overlooked the city of Boston, and on the morning of the next 



,^8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

day General Howe saw plainly that Washington could destroy 
with shells every British ship in the harbor. If the British 
should attempt to carry the heights by storm they would prob- 
ably suffer more than they had suffered at Bunker Hill, for the 
Americans now had plenty of ammunition. So Howe decided 
that the best thing to do was to put his men on board the ships 
and sail away. On March 17 the British army that had so 
long annoyed the Bostonians sailed out of the harbor, never 
to return. This was Washington's first stroke in the war, and 
it was a most successful stroke, for it rid New England of 
the presence of the English troops. 

The Declaration of Independence. When the Americans 
began to oppose England they did not think of separating 
themselves from the English nation. Washington said, when 
he took command of the army (July 7, 1775), that he abhorred 
the idea of independence, and it is likely that at that time most 
Americans regarded their trouble with England as only a 
family quarrel which would cease as soon as the King and 
Parliament should begin to treat the colonies as the Ameri- 
cans thought they ought to be treated. But by the end of 1775 
the colonists began to think of separation and independence. 
Several causes led to this state of mind: (i) Congress had sent 
a humble petition to the King asking for a redress of griev- 
ances, and the King had refused even to look at the petition; 
(2) in most of the battles that had occurred the Americans 
had shown that they could take care of themselves; (3) in 
January, 1776, Thomas Paine's " Common Sense " was pub- 
lished and scattered broadcast over the land, and the plain, 
simple arguments of the pamphlet in favor of independence 
iniluenced the minds of thousands; (4) George HI, unable 
to secure troops at home, hired German soldiers (Hessians) to 
shoot down his American subjects. 

I^y July, 1776, Congress felt sure that the American people 
were in favor of independence, and on the 2d of July it re- 
solved " that these United Colonies are and of right ought 
to be free and independent States." This was another step, 



INDEPENDENCE DECLARED 



129 




'"^^''^^^ 



€^^^^^72^ 











Signatures of Some of the Men who Signed the Declaration of 
Independence 

and a most important one, in the formation of the American 
Union. 

The task of writing a formal Declaration of Independence 
fell upon Thomas Jefferson, a tall, sandy-haired young man of 
thirty-three, who could " calculate an eclipse, survey an es- 
tate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, 
dance a minuet, and play the violin." Jefferson was also a 
master in the use of English. It has been said that, as Wash- 
ington was the sword of the Revolution, so was Jefferson its 



,30 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

pen Jefferson's draft of a declaration of Independence was 
.ubmit"ted to Congress, and after undergoing a few trifling 
changes w-as adopted on the 4tli of July. The wild rejoicings 
withVhich the Declaration was everywhere received proved 
beyond doubt that Congress had made no mistake. The Amer- 
ican people desired independence, and for the sake of so great a 
prize they were willing to pledge " their lives, their fortunes, 
and their sacred honor." 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What event, in 1774, sho.wed that the movement for union among 
the colonies was growing stronger? What was done by the First- Con- 
tinental Congress? 

2. Who were Samuel Adams and John Hancock? What attempts 
were made to arrest these men? Give an account of the fighting at 
Lexington and Concord. 

3. Give an account of the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 

4. Name some of the Revolutionary leaders. What was done by the 
Second Continental Congress? 

5. Give an account of the battle of Bunker Hill. 

6. Name some of the Revolutionary officers. Give an account of the 
march of Arnold and Montgomery upon Quebec. What caused the 
British to withdraw from Boston? 

7. Name the causes that led the Americans to declare their inde- 
pendence. By whom was the Declaration of Independence written? 
When was it adopted? How was it received? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1664, 1763. 

2. Persons: William Penn, Washington, Franklin, Braddock, Wolfe, 
Daniel Boone. 

3. Tell what you can about: Life in the Backwoods; the Boston 
Massacre ; the " Intolerable Acts." 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Wars before 1783; Steps in the 
Formation of the Union; The French in North America. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Outbreak of War: Hitchcock, 95-101. 

(2) The Battle of Bunker Hill: Hitchcock, 102-119; Stories 
of the Republic, 23-50. 

(3) The Declaration of Independence: Eggleston, 171-174. 

(4) The Signers of the Declaration of Independence: The 
Colonists and the Revolution, 157-178. 



XXI 



STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENDENCE 

Now that the colonists had declared their independence in words, 
they were compelled to take up the sword and make their declara- 
tion good. The struggle lasted for more than five years after inde- 
pendence was declared. In this chapter will be given an account 
of the fighting in the earlier part of the war. 

British Plan of Campaign. The people of New York were 
in the midst of rejoicings over the Declaration of Independence 
when a British army of 25,000 men, under General Howe, 
landed on Staten Island. It was the plan of the British, after 
they had been driven from Boston, to secure possession of the 
Hudson River region and thus to cut the colonies in two. 
With the Hudson River and Lake Champlain in the hands of 
the British, New England could be prevented from joining 
forces with the colonies — or States, as we may now call 
them ^ tow.ard the south. The British planned that Howe 
should take New York and gain control of the lower Hudson, 
while General Carleton was to come down from Canada, re- 
capture Ticonderoga, and gain control of the upper Hudson. 
The two armies were finally to meet at Albany. 

Battle of Long Island. Washington had foreseen the 
British plan, and when Howe arrived at Staten Island, near 
New York, he found the American general already on the 
ground with 18,000 men, half of whom, under General Israel 
Putnam, were holding Brooklyn Heights. These heights com- 
manded New York just as Dorchester Heights commanded 
Boston, and Howe saw that the first thing to do was to drive 
out Putnam. So he landed his army on Long Island and ad- 
vanced upon the heights. Putnam sent down 5000 men to 
meet the British, and the battle of Long Island was fought 

131 



132 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Washington's Movements in 1776 

(August 2"], 1776). The Americans were outnumbered nearly 
four to one. and were badly beaten. After the battle Howe 
pushed on to take the heights, but was foiled by Washington, 
who, under cover of a foggy night, ordered 8000 men to the 
New York side, and thus saved them from the clutches of the 
British. 

Now began a game of hare and hounds, the American 
army being the hare and the British army the hounds. Howe, 
having taken possession of the heights, at once advanced upon 
New York. After a sharp encounter at Harlem Heights, 
Washington moved up the Hudson to White Plains. He 
did not desire a pitched battle because he was so greatly out- 
numbered. . Howe advanced to White Plains. Washington, 
after a sharp skirmish, retired first to North Castle and then 
to Hackensack, on the west side of the Hudson. 



STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENDENCE 133 

The Tories. Washington found New York and New Jer- 
sey full of Tories — men who did not want independence and 
who took sides with the King. In every State there were some 
men of this class. The ships that carried Howe away from 
Boston had on board nine hundred Tories from Massachu- 
setts. Altogether about one fifth of the people of the States 
belonged to the Tory class. In the Middle States, however, 
the class was larger than it was in any other section, and the 
Tories around New York did what they could to annoy Wash- 
ington and bring disaster upon the American cause. 

Fort Washington and Fort Lee. Washington, in the last 
months of 1776, besides being annoyed by the Tories, was made 
to sufifer for the blunders of Congress and the bad faith of one 
of his own generals. Just above New York on opposite sides 
of the Hudson the Americans held two forts, Fort Washing- 
ton and Fort Lee. When Washington saw that the garrison 
at Fort Washington would be unable to prevent the British 
from passing up the river, he ordered the fort to be aban- 
doned. But Congress ordered the fort to be held. General 
Greene, the commander, obeyed Congress. Howe stormed 
the fort (November 12) and captured 3000 Americans. After 
the capture the Hessians murdered some of the prisoners 
in cold blood. Washington witnessed this outrage through 
his spy-glass from Fort Lee, and it is said that when he saw 
his brave soldiers thus slaughtered " his overwrought heart 
could bear it no longer, and he cried and sobbed like a child." 
The surrender of Fort Lee rapidly followed the surrender of 
Fort Washington. 

The loss of these forts was followed by a disastrous act of 
disobedience on the part of General Charles Lee. This officer 
had been left at North Castle with 7000 men. Washington 
sent messenger after messenger to Lee, ordering him to throw 
his army across the Hudson and join the army of the com- 
mander-in-chief in New Jersey. But Lee refused to move 
until it was too late. When at last he did move he was cap- 
tt^red by the British and made a prisoner. 

Battles of Trenton and Princeton. The British were now 



134 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

in complete possession of the lower Hudson, and Washington 
was forced to beat a retreat across New Jersey, Howe follow- 
ing close upon his heels. On December 8 Washington crossed 
the Delaware River at Trenton. As his last boat passed over, 
Howe's army came up; but it could not cross, for Washing- 
ton on the march had destroyed everything that could float. 

It was a gloomy time for the Americans when Washington 
lay with his little army of 3000 men opposite Trenton. " Ten 
days more," he wrote (December 20, 1776) to Congress, " will 
j)ut an end to the existence of our army." Yet before ten 
days had passed he had struck the British a fearful blow. 
On Christmas night, when the river was full of floating ice, 
he recrossed the Delaware, and the next day surprised the 
enemy at Trenton and took a thousand prisoners. 

The British general, Cornwallis, rushed to the scene with 
a large force. Reaching Trenton at night, he waited until 
the next day for battle. But he was sure that Washington 
was at his mercy. " At last," he said, " we have run down 
the old fox and will bag him in the morning." But in the 
morning Washington slipped quietly away to Princeton, 
where he surprised (Jan. 3, 1777) and routed a detachment 
of the main army of Cornwallis. Washington now moved 
northward to Morristown, where he found a safe retreat and 
passed the winter. There had been a hard chase for six 
months, but the hare had not been caught. 

British Capture the American Capital City, Philadelphia. 
Washington's plan now was to watch Howe closely, annoy 
him in every way possible, and prevent him from joining 
the army that was about to march into northern New York 
from Canada. In June, 1777, Howe started across New Jer- 
sey with a large army to take Philadelphia, the home of Con- 
gress and the capital of the new-born nation — the United 
States. He did not go far before he found Washington's 
army standing squarely in his path. Howe now thought it 
prudent to return to New York and go to Philadelphia by 
water. He embarked his troops on a fleet and, finding the 



STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENDENCE 



135 




Washington's Alovements in 1777 

Delaware too well guarded, sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and 
landed near Elkton, in Maryland. 

Washington had followed Howe's movements and was close 
at hand when the landing was made. At Chadds Ford, on 
the Brandywine, he gave battle (September 11, 1777) to the 
British, but was compelled to leave the field to the enemy. 
Howe now entered Philadelphia with his army. Congress 
took alarm and fled to Lancaster. Howe stationed his main 
army at Germantown, a few miles north of Philadelphia. 
Here Washington again attacked the British (October 4, 1777), 
but again he was compelled to retreat. After hovering around. 
Howe for several weeks Washington went into winter quarters 
at Valley Forge. 

Burgoyne's Invasion of New York; Saratoga. While 



T36 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Washington was giving his attention to Howe in New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania, the British were going ahead with their 
plans for invading New York from Canada. In the summer 
of 1777 General John Burgoyne, who had taken the place of 
General Carleton, sailed up Lake Champlain, surprised Ti- 
conderoga, and captured it with almost as little ceremony as 
Ethan Allen had used two years before. 

This was a good beginning for the British, but fortune 
soon ceased to smile upon them. Schuyler, the American 
commander at the North, had removed all the cattle and pro- 
visions along Burgoyne's line of march and had felled trees 
and destroyed bridges so as to obstruct the movement of the 
army. The food supply of the British gave out and the troops 
began to suffer hunger. Burgoyne knew that at Bennington, 
in Vermont, there were food supplies and ammunition, and 
to capture these he sent out a large force of men.. The British 
detachment was met at Bennington by John Stark, who had 
fought at Bunker Hill. Stark said to his men as he went into 
the fight: "To-night the American flag floats from yonder 
hill, or Molly Stark sleeps a widow." Mrs. Stark was not 
made a widow that night, and the British force was captured 
almost to a man (August 15, 1777). 

Burgoyne now began to be pressed by difficulties on every 
side. He was expecting aid from General St. Leger, who 
was to land at Oswego and move down the Mohawk valley; 
but St. Leger had met General Herkimer at Oriskany and 
had been checked and turned back. Burgoyne also expected 
to meet Howe at Albany; but Howe was hundreds of miles 
away, defending himself from the attacks of Washington. 
The British army was without food and was growing smaller 
every day. 

The American army was growing larger every day. Troops 
were arriving from almost every direction and were weaving 
•a web around the British. Washington sent Benedict Ar- 
nold and Daniel Morgan with his 500 Virginia sharp-shooters. 
The l^.ritish were in no condition to fight, but fight they must. 
They were in a trap and must get out of it if they could. 



STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENDENCE 



137 



Burgoyne, almost in desperation, charged upon the Americans 
at Saratoga (or Stillwater), but failed to get out of the trap. 
Eighteen days later the struggle was renewed, but in vain; 
Burgoyne was com- 
pelled to surrender 
(October 17), and 
nearly 6,001 soldiers 
fell into the hands of 
the Americans. At the 
time of the battle Gen- 
eral Gates was in com- 
mand. He. therefore, 
was given the credit of 
the victory, though the 
hardest fighting was 
done by Arnold and 
Morgan. 

Why did not Howe 
follow the plan that had 
been mapped out (p. 
131) and go north and 
join his forces with 
those of Burgoyne ? 
There were two rea- 




/ MASS. 



Wyoming 
Valley 



iWeBtfoInl 



Burgoyne's Invasion of New York and 
Scene of Border Warfare 



sons why he did not. First, through a blunder on the part of 
the authorities in England, he had failed to receive instructions 
to march to Albany. Second, Washington was giving him so 
much trouble that, even if he had started for Albany, he would 
hardly have been allowed to proceed. 

Results of Burgoyne's Surrender. The battle of Saratoga 
was by far the greatest battle of the Revolution, and it was 
one of the most important battles ever fought in the history of 
the world. It was great because it was decisive, because it 
led to so many important results. In the first place, the sur- 
render of Burgoyne completely shattered the plans that the 
British had laid for the conquering of America. England 
had failed to drive the wedge through the colonies. In the 



138 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

second place, the victory was a blow to the pride of England. 
The English government was now ready to give the Americans 
everything they had asked for except independence. There 
would be no more taxes on tea; the Americans could have 
representation in Parliament; and there would be pardon 
for everybody — if only the Americans would lay down their 

arms. 

But the most important result of Burgoyne's surrender was 




The Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga 

From an old print published in France. 

the effect it had upon France. From the beginning the French 
looked upon the Revolution with favor and helped the Ameri- 
cans with arms, supplies, and money. Shortly after the Dec- 
laration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin was sent to 
France to plead the cause of the Americans. Franklin was 
known as the great champion of liberty, and he succeeded in 
winning over the French people " heart and soul " to his cause. 
The French government, however, for a time held back and 
took no action. But when the news of Saratoga came, the 
French quickly acknowledged the independence of the United 
States and made a treaty of friendship with the new nation 
(February 6, 1778). According to the terms of the treaty. 
France promised to help America win its independence, and 



STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENDENCE 139 

she kept her promise faithfully. Many French war-ships and 
French soldiers were sent to America, and after the treaty 
was made Americans and Frenchmen fought side by side until 
the war was ended. " It is seriously to be doubted," says 
President Wilson, " whether we could have won our freedom 
without the gallant and timely aid of France." 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What was the British plan of campaign in 1776? 

2. Give an account of the battle of Long Island. Describe the 
movements of Washington in the vicinity of New^ York. 

3. Who were the Tories? Where were they most numerous? 

4. What led to the surrender of Fort Washington? Of what act 
of disobedience was Charles Lee guilty? 

5. Give an account of the battles of Trenton and Princeton. 

6. What movements led to the capture of Philadelphia by tlie 
British? 

7. Give an account of Burgoyne's invasion of New York. Give an 
account of the battle of Saratoga. Why did Howe fail to join his 
forces with those of Burgoyne? What effect did the surrender have 
upon France? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1607, i68g (2), 1763. 

2. Persons : John Smith, Edmund Andros, Daniel Boone, Samuel 
Adams, Burgoyne, Franklin. 

3. Tell what you can about: Bacon's Rebellion; Life in the Back- 
woods; the Stamp Act; the Boston Massacre; the "Intolerable Acts"; 
the Declaration of Independence. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Wars before 1783; Steps in the 
Formation of the Union ; Treaties ; France in North America. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Washington: Faris, 19-36. 

(2) The Battle of Princeton: The Colonists and the Revo- 
lution, 179-184. 

(3) The Battle of Saratoga: Hitchcock, 120-144; Coe, 88-95- 

(4) Nathan Hale:, The Colonists and the Revolution, 184- 

193- 

(5) Benjamin Franklin: The Colonists and the Revolution, 

201-207. 

(6) The Women of the Revolution: Bruce, 81-114. 



XXII 

VICTORY AND INDEPENDENCE 

After the surrender of Burgoyne the War of the Revolution 
continued for four years longer. In this chapter we shall have 
the story of the final years of the war, and shall learn of the out- 
come of the struggle and of the terms of peace. 

Valley Forge. We left Washington in Valley Forge, where 
he quartered his troops during the winter of ij??-?^- And a 
trying winter it was both for the army and for General Wash- 
ington. Congress had failed to provide tents, food, and 
clothing for the army, and the suffering of the men was heart- 
rending. " The unfortunate soldiers," said Lafayette, a 
young nobleman who had come over from France and had 
offered his services to the American army, " were in want 
of everything; they had neither coats, hats, shirts, nor shoes." 
The winter at \'alley Forge was a trying one to Washington 
personally, because during that winter a plot was formed 
to overthrow him as commander-in-chief and to raise Gates, 
the hero of Saratoga, to his place. Nothing came of the plot, 
but it grieved Washington deeply to learn that his own of^cers 
were planning for his downfall. 

One event at Valley Forge proved to be of great advantage 
to the Americans. This was the coming of Baron Steuben, 
a German officer who as a volunteer offered his services to 
Congress and was given a command at Valley Forge. Steuben 
saw that the ragged regiments of the Americans needed train- 
ing. So he turned his camp into a military school, and before 
the winter was over had a well disciplined army. 

Monmouth. Washington soon had use for his well drilled 
army. In the spring of 1778 Howe, who really liked the 
Americans and consequently fought against them half-heart- 

140 



VICTORY AND INDEPENDENCE 



141 




edly, was removed from command, and Sir Henry Clinton 
took his place. Clinton at once received orders to leave Phila- 
delphia and lead his forces to New York. But Washington 
did not intend to let the British make the journey in peace. 
At Monmouth. New Jersey, he attacked the lines of the march- 
ing foe (June 28, 1778). Victory was almost within the grasp 
of the American army when Charles Lee, who had meantime 
been returned to the Americans by the British (p. 133), 
ordered a disgraceful retreat. Washington was able to check 
the retreat, but he did not hinder Clinton from reaching 
New York. The battle of Monmouth was disastrous for both 
sides, and neither side could boast of certain victory. After 
the battle Washington moved his army up the Hudson and en- 
camped at White Plains, where he remained for nearly three 
years, watching Clinton and holding him in check. 

War on the Frontier. The War of the. Revolution was 
not long in spreading to the western frontier. In the border 



142 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




SavanAah 



Statute Miles 



The Revolutionary War as Fought in the South 

warfare the Indians were generally on the side of the English. 
In the summer of 1778 a. company of Indians and Tories — 
" Tory Rangers " they were called — swept through the beauti- 
ful valley of Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, and left behind them 
terrible scenes of murder and destruction. A little later 



VICTORY AND INDEPENDENCE 143 

Cherry Valley, in central New York, suffered at the hands of 
these marauders in much the same way. To put a stop to 
these outrages General Sullivan was sent against the Tories 
and their Indian allies ; and at Newton, on the site of the 
present city of Elmira, he met them in battle and punished 
them severely. 

But the most important event connected with the border 
warfare of the Revolution was the capture of the Illinois 
country — the Northwest Territory — by George Rogers 
Clark. Acting in the name of Virginia, this dashing officer, 
with about 150 men, floated down the Ohio to the mouth of 
the Cumberland, where he struck northward across the 
country, marching over prairies and through marshes, captured 
Kaskaskia and Vincennes, and took possession of the entire 
region north of the Ohio. Only Detroit was left in the hands 
of the British. 

Naval Warfare. During the Revolution the Americans 
had no regular navy. Such warfare as they waged on the sea 
was carried on by private persons. Congress would issue what 
are known as " letters of marque " to the owners of merchant 
vessels, and these letters gave captains authority to make 
war upon English vessels wherever they might be found. 

The most famous captain of these privateers was John Paul 
Jones. With a squadron of three ships this famous sea- 
fighter harried the coast of England and Scotland, and was 
a terror wherever he appeared. In 1779 Jones's flag-ship, the 
BonJwuunc Richard, fought with the British frigate Scrapis. 
The two ships were lashed together, and the fighting con- 
tinued until the decks of both vessels ran with blood and 
until the ships caught fire. In the end the Scrapis surrendered. 
This victory made Jones a hero and caused great rejoicing 
in America. 

The War at the South. New England was as good as lost 
to England on the day that Washington drove the British 
out of Boston harbor. The Middle States were as good as lost 
on the day that Burgoyne laid down his arms at Saratoga. 
After Saratoga, all that was left for the English to fight for 



144 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

was the Southern States. Late in 1778 England carried the 
war to the South and captured Savannah. 

Little was done in 1779, but the next year the war at the 
South was begun in earnest. Early in 1780 Clinton and Corn- 
wallis. with 8000 troops, laid siege to Charleston and com- 
pelled the city to surrender. All Georgia and South Carolina 
was now in the control of the British. The conquerors, how- 
ever, did not have a bed of roses, for in South CaroHna there 
were bands of roving patriots who would dart down a 
mountain-side or out from a dense wood, strike a blow 
wherever a blow could be struck, and then disappear as sud- 
denly as they had appeared. Chief among the leaders of these 
bands were Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter. 

In the summer of 1780 the Americans had an army in the 
field in South Carolina under Gates. Cornwallis met Gates 
at Camden (August 15, 1780), where one of the severest 
battles of the Revolution was fought. De Kalb, who com- 
manded a Maryland regiment, fell bleeding from eleven 
wounds. Gates himself beat a cowardly retreat, losing all the 
honors that Saratoga had brought him. The result of the 





The flag of Grei 
Britain and her col 
onies, adopted 1707. 



The flag of tlie 
United Colonies, Janu- 
ary, 1776. 




First flag of United 
states, adopted 1777. 



The flag adopted in 
1795 ds stars and 15 
stripes). 



The flag when it had 45 
stars and 13 stripes. 



The Evolution of the American Flag. 



VICTORY AND INDEPENDENCE 



145 



battle of Camden was a complete rout of the American army. 

The news of the defeat at Camden was disheartening enough, 
but the next month the 
Americans were to hear 
something even more 
disheartening : they were 
to hear that General 
Benedict Arnold had 
turned traitor to the 
American cause. After 
his excellent service at 
Saratoga, Arnold had 
been put in command 
at Philadelphia. While 
there he had been ac- 
cused of using his official 
position for purposes of 
private gain. Washing- 
ton reprimanded him 
mildly for his conduct, 
but forgave him and said 
to him : " Exhibit anew Lafayette 

those noble qualities which have placed you on the list of our 
most valued commanders. I will myself furnish you with op- 
portunities of regaining the esteem of your country." 

Washington made these words good by appointing Arnold 
commander of West Point, on the Hudson. In September, 
1780, Arnold repaid Washington's kindness by entering into a 
plan to hand West Point over to the British. But the plan 
failed. Major Andre, the go-between in the plot, was cap- 
tured, and concealed in his boots were the papers in Arnold's 
handwriting. Andre was hanged as a spy, but Arnold managed 
to escape within the British lines. As the price of his dis- 
honor the traitor received £6000 in gold and a command in 
the British army. 

The bad news about Arnold's treachery was quickly fol- 
lowed by good news from the battlefield in the South. In 




146 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

October. 1780, the frontiersmen of North CaroHna and 
Tennessee (pp. 109, no) won a great victory over the British 
at King's Mountain. In a short time the battle at Cowpens 
followed. Here the British met Morgan's sharp-shooters and 
suffered another disastrous defeat (January, 1781). Gen- 
eral Nathanael Greene was now in command of the Southern 
forces, and so successful were his operations that he soon 
took from the British nearly all the territory they had won 
in the Carolinas. 

When Cornwallis found he could make no headway in the 
Carolinas, he marched his troops into Virginia, the State that, 
next to Massachusetts, had done the most to bring on the war. 
\\'ashington at this time was in the North, planning for an at- 
tack upon New York; but he was also keeping a watchful eye 
upon what was going on in his native State. He had sent 
down the brilliant and brave Frenchman Lafayette, who met 
Cornwallis on his entrance into Virginia and gave the British 
general a chase. " The boy " — Lafayette was then but 
twenty-three years of age — " can't escape me," said Corn- 
wallis. But the boy did escape him, and when the chase had 
ended the army of Cornwallis was occupying an unfavorable 
position at Yorktown, on the peninsula formed by the York 
and James rivers. 

Washington now saw his chance. He gave up his plan of 
attacking New York and hurried south with his army. On 
his way he made a short visit to his home at Mount Vernon, 
which he had not seen for six years. When he reached York- 
town a French fleet under Admiral Count de Grasse was 
guarding the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. The French and 
Americans, outnumbering the British two to one, closed in on 
Cornwallis by land, and the guns of the French fleet made it 
impossible for him to escape by water. As at Saratoga, so 
at Yorktown, the British had been caught in a trap, and there 
was nothing for them to do but surrender. After a desperate 
resistance Cornwallis gave up his sword and surrendered 
(October 19, 1781) his entire army of 8000 men as prisoners 
of war. " O God, it is all over, it is all over ! " said Lord 



VICTORY AND INDEPENDENCE 



147 



North, when he heard of the surrender. And it was all over. 
The battle of Yorktown ended the Revolution and gave in- 
dependence to the United States. 

Treaty of Peace, 1783. The fruits of the victory were 
seen in the treaty of peace, which was concluded at Paris 




The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781 

From TrumbuU's painting. Tlie American officers are on the right, the British 
officers on the left. General Lincoln (on horseback), representing General Wash- 
ington, is receiving the sword of General O'Hara, representing Cornwallis. 

in 1783. By this treaty the independence of the United States 
was acknowledged. The boundaries of the new nation were 
to be the southern border of Canada on the north, the Missis- 
sippi on the west, and Florida on the south. Americans were 
given the right to fish on the coast of Newfoundland, and the 
Mississippi River was to be open to British as well as to Ameri- 
can ships. Florida, which by the treaty of 1763 (p. 105) had 
been ceded to the British, was given back to Spain. Taking 
it all in all, the treaty of Paris was entirely favorable to the 
Americans and was a great credit to the three men who car- 
ried it through — Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John 
Adams. 



148 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Describe the experience of the American army at Valley Forge. 
Who was Lafayette? Baron Steuben? 

2. Give an account of the battle of Monmouth. 

3. What injuries were inflicted upon the Americans by the Tory 
Rangers? What services were rendered by George Rogers Clarke? 

4. What kind of naval warfare did the Americans conduct? What 
were the naval achievements of John Paul Jones? 

5. Who was Marion? Sumter? Give an account of the battle of 
Camden. Give an account of the treason of Benedict Arnold. What 
battles did the Americans win in the Carolinas in 1780 and 1781 ? Give 
an ac'count of the surrender of the British at Yorktown. 

6. What were the terms of the treaty of 1783? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1664, 1763, 1776. 

2. Persons : Champlain, Henry Hudson, Samuel Adams, Burgoyne. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Patroons ; the Stamp Act ; the 
Tories; the Declaration of Independence. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Wars before 1783; Treaties; Indians 
and Indian Wars; Claims of Different Nations at Different Times. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Lafayette: The Colonists and the Revolution, 194-200; 
Coe, 120-130. 

(2) Paul Jones: The Colonists and the Revolution, 209-220; 
Coe, 1 10-120. 

(3) The Closing Years of the Revolution: Eggleston, 186- 
190. 

(4) Yorktown and the Surrender of Cornwallis : Hitchcock, 
145-150. 

(5) George Rogers Clark: Paris, 80-97. 

(6) The Origin of Our Flag : The Colonists and the Revolu- 
tion, 225-230. 




Total losses of British, killed or wounded, about 9000 
Total losses of Americans, killed or wounded, ab't 8000 
Total cost of the war to British about $500,000,000 

Total cost of the war to Americans about $300,O00,OO0L 



NORTHERN CAMPAIGN 
Spring of 17 75 to win ter of 1779-80 

SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN 
Winterof 177y-80to autumn of 1781 

IMPORTANT BATTLES 

XEAR BOSTON 

Lexington and Concord, April in, IT'S 

Bunker Hill Ji re 17. 177r, 

(Evacuation of Boston. Slnnli 17, 1770) 

SEAR SEW YORK 

(Declaration of Independence, 

July 4,1776) 

Long laland Aug. 27, 1776 

Harlem Heights...; Sept, 10.1770 

Fort Wasbington . Nov 16,1770 

(Retreat of Wnehington 

across New Jersey ) 

( Crossing the Delaware, I'er ;.S, 1770) 

Trenton Dec. 20, 1770 

Princeton Jan. 3,1777 

SEAR rniLADELPBIA 

Brandy win- Sept. 11, 1777 

Germantown £)ct. 4, 1777 

SEAR SARATOGA 

Oriskany Aug 6, 1777 

Bennington Aug 16, 1777 

Saratoga ( Surrender of 

Burgoyne), Oct. 17, 1777 

(■Washington at Valley Forge, 
winter, 1777-78) 

Monmouth June 28, 1778 

IS THE SOUTH 

Savannah Oct 9, ITTO 

Charleston May 12, 1780 

Camden Aug. 10,1780 

Kins's Mountain Oct. 7. 1780 

Cowpens Jan l^- '""1 

Guilford March l.'i, 1781 

Eutaw Springs Sept. 8, 17H 

Yorktown. . . Oct. 19. 1781 



An Outline for a Review of the War of the Revolution 



149 



XXIII 

A TIME OF GREAT DANGER (1783-1787) 

After America broke away from England it became necessary 
for the new nation to govern itself, and while it was trying to find 
the best way to do this it passed through a period of great danger. 
What were the leading events of this period? What problems of 
government arose and with what dangers was America threatened? 

State Constitutions. You have learned (p. 100) that be- 
fore tlic Revolution the colonies had very little to do with 
one another. Every colony was bound to Great Britain by the 
tie of dependence, but there were no ties to bind one colony 
to another, no force to hold the colonies together. When 
the tie of dependence upon England was snapped by the 
Declaration of Independence, each colony became what was 
called a " free and independent State," and it was necessary 
to change the old colonial governments into State govern- 
ments. To bring about this change, representatives of the 
people in each State met in a convention, called a constitutional 
convention, and agreed on a plan as to how the State should 
be governed. This plan was written out in black and white 
and was called the constitution of the State. The colonies of 
Connecticut and Rhode Island, however, did not form new 
constitutions, bwt took their old charters (pp. 58-59) for con- 
stitutions. 

In drawing up its constitution each State followed its own 
wishes and its own needs. The constitution of Georgia dif- 
fered from that of New Hamphshire, because the needs of 
Georgia were different from those of New Hampshire. Yet, 
while the governments of the States differed from one another, 
they at the same time bore a strong resemblance to one an- 
other. While many people of foreign blood had come into 
the colonies, they had all become Americans and had been 
brought up under British customs and had the same notions 
of government and law. Every State had a government in 

150 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER (1783-1787) 151 

which the people had a voice, and the power of government 
in every State was separated and given to three sets of men : 
one set to make laws (the legislative department) ; one set 
to decide on the meaning of the laws and to declare who are 
guilty of breaking them (the judicial department) ; and one 
set to enforce the laws (the executive department). 

The Two Governments. But the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence did not leave the State free to do everything that a 
government can do — did not leave it free to exercise all the 
powers of government ; for the Declaration brought into the 
world a new nation, the United States, and this new nation 
had some powers of its own and a government of its own, 
namely, the Continental Congress (p. 125). This Congress, 
from the first, did some things a State never did and never 
tried to do. For example, it conducted a war — the War of 
the Revolution ; it made treaties with foreign nations and it 
managed the post-ofhce. 

At the very beginning of our political life, then, there were 
two kinds of government at work in the United States : a cen- 
tral government, the Congress, exercising power in respect to 
war, treaties, and postal affairs ; and State governments, exer- 
cising power in respect to all other matters. The State gov- 
ernment entered the home and prescribed the relations that 
were to exist between husband and wife, between parent and 
child, between master and servant ; it made laws to regulate 
business; it controlled all the local governments, counties and 
cities and towns ; it maintained public schools ; it administered 
justice in all ordinary cases and punished all ordinary crimes; 
it prescribed the qualifications of voters and conducted elec- 
tions. Thus, the State governments had many things to do. 

Articles of Confederation. The statesmen of the Revolu- 
tion were not long in learning that the central government 
was too weak to do good work. So in 1781 they succeeded in 
getting the States to agree to the celebrated Article;^ of Con- 
federation ; and thus another important step in the formation 
of the Union was taken. The articles increased the power 
of the central government. They gave Congress the power : 



152 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Independence Hall, Philadelphia 

Where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where Congress sometimes 

held its sessions. 

(i) To determine questions of peace and war. 

(2) To attend to foreign affairs of every kind. 

(3) To manage Indian affairs. 

(4) To call upon the States for their share of the expenses 
of the central government. 

(5) To settle disputes between States concerning boundaries. 

(6) To establish and regulate post-offfces. 

For the carrying of these powers into effect the Articles of 
Confederation provided a very poor form of government. In- 
stead of providing for a government of three departments, 
such as the States had, they provided for only one depart- 
ment, the legislative department, Congress. In the Congress 
the voting was done by States, each State having one vote. 
Under this arrangement the smallest State had as much power 
as the largest. In the exercise of its powers Congress was 
completely at the mercy of the States. If it passed a law, 
it depended upon the States to carry the law into effect. It 
could not, with its own officers, go to the individual citizen, 
lay its hands upon him, and compel him to obey its laws, and 
punish him if he disobeyed them. Moreover, Congress lacked 
real power in respect to taxation. It could ask a State for 
taxes, but it could not compel a State to pay them. 

As long as the war with England continued, the Articles of 
Confederation served a useful purpose ; but when peace came 
and common danger no longer spurred the people to united 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER (1783-1787) 153 

action, the Articles were seen to be only a rope of sand. The 
history of the United States from 1783 to 1787 is little else 
than a tale of disgraceful happenings due to the weakness of 
the central power. The United States could not keep its 
treaties with the foreign countries ; it could not pay its debts ; 
it could not keep peace between the States. Congress lost 
the respect of the country, and statesmen did not care even 
to attend its meetings. On one occasion the members of Con- 
gress were chased out of Philadelphia by a handful of drunken 
soldiers clamoring for their pay. 

Even within the separate States there were disorders and 
violence. People everywhere were heavily in debt, and in some 
States, when the courts ordered the sherilT to sell property for 
the purpose of paying debts, there were riots and mobs. In 
Massachusetts there was open rebellion. Daniel Shays, who 
ha(^ been a captain in the Continental army, brought about a 
thousand men together and for six months (1786) defied the 
authority of the State. Shays's Rebellion — as the uprising 
was called — was finally quelled, but it lasted long enough 
to show the unhealthy condition of aiTairs. 

By 1786 the Union was on the point of going to pieces, and 
it would have done so had it not been for two things. In the 
first place, the people were afraid of disunion. They saw 
that if the central government were allowed to perish utterly 
there would be scattered along the Atlantic coast thirteen weak 
little nations instead of one strong one. Each State would 
be to every other State a foreign country. In matters of gov- 
ernment Connecticut would be no more to Massachusetts 
than that State would be to France. And what would 
such disunion mean? It would mean confusion and jeal- 
ousy and all kinds of bickerings and strife. Indeed, it 
might mean to each State the loss of its independence ; for 
if the States should fail to hold together England or some 
other powerful nation might pounce down upon them and con- 
quer them one by one. 

In the second place, the States did not wish to lose through 
disunion their property interest in the great Northwest Terri- 



154 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Soldiers Attacking the Congress 

tory, a region that included what are now the States of Ohio, 
Indiana, IlHnois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minne- 
sota. The United States, by the treaty of 1783, had come into 
possession of this vast region. Four States had laid claim to 
portions of the Northwest Territory, but in order to secure 
the adoption of the Articles of Confederation one State after 
another had given up its claim, and by 1786 the whole terri- 
tory (with the exception of a small slice claimed by Virginia 
and a small slice retained by Connecticut) had passed under 
the control of the United States. The Northwest Territory, 
therefore, became our national domain, a great tract of land 
belonging to the government of the United States. Con- 
gress controlled the selling of these lands, and the States saw 
that if they would only hold together they would all share in 
the proceeds of the land sales, for the money would all go into 
the treasury of the United States. If, on the other hand, the 
Union should be broken, most of the States would be shut out 
from all interest and claim on the western lands. So the pos- 
session of the Northwest Territory by Congress proved to be 
a powerful reason for holding the Union together. 



A TIME OF GREAT DANGER (1783-1787) 155 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. How was the government of a colony changed to a State gov- 
ernment? In what respects were the governments of a State alike? 

2. What two governments were in operation when independence was 
declared ? Name the powers of the central government at this time ; 
name the powers of the State at this time. 

3. Name the powers of the central government under the Articles 
of Confederation. In what 'respects were the Articles weak? What 
events showed plainly the weakness of the government under the 
Articles? Give an account of Shays's Rebellion. What two things 
held the Union together? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1620, 1776, 1781, 1783. 

2. Persons : Henry the Navigator, Americus Vespucius, John Win- 
throp, James Oglethorpe, Samuel Adams, Lafayette, George Rogers 
Clark, Cornwallis. 

3. Tell what you can about : The Line of Demarcation ; the Pil- 
grims ; the Puritans; the Pennsylvania Dutch; the Scotch-Irish; the 
Stamp Act ; the Tories ; the Declaration of Independence ; the Treason 
of Benedict Arnold. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Government; Wars before 1789; 
Treaties ; The European Background. 

5. Reading Reference : Read John Fiske's A Critical Period of 
American History. Also, A. C. McLaughlin's, The Confederation and 
the Constitution. 



XXIV 

FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION 

In the last chapter you learned that under the Articles of Con- 
federation the Union became so weak that there was danger of it 
falling to pieces. But the statesmen of the time came together 
and drew up a new Constitution, which provided for a new form 
of government and for a more perfect union. What kind of gov- 
ernment did the new Constitution establish? 

Constitutional Convention of 1787. Before it was too late 
the great men of the country began to take steps to secure 
the blessings of union and to cure the evils of disunion. In 
1787 a Convention, representing all the States except Rhode 
Island, met in Philadelphia for the purpose of so revising the 
Articles of Confederation that the central government would 
have more power. In this Convention were many of the best 
men America possessed. Washington was the chairman. 
Along with Washington from Virginia came James Madison, 
a man deeply versed both in the learning of books and in the 
ways of men. From New York came Alexander Hamilton, 
who in all things stood shoulder to shoulder with Washing- 
ton and who was regarded as one of the greatest men of his 
age. Massachusetts sent Elbridge Gerry and Rufus King, the 
former a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the 
latter one of the ablest statesmen of his time. Connecticut 
sent Oliver Ellsworth and Roger Sherman, jurists of the high- 
est rank, the latter a signer of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. Among the representatives of Pennsylvania was Ben- 
jamin Franklin, the oldest man in the Convention and in some 
respects the greatest. 

Work of the Convention. The men of the Convention 
started out with the purpose of merely revising the Articles 

156 



FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION 157 

of Confederation ; but they soon decided that the Articles were 
so worthless that they could not be patched up and that an en- 
tirely new government was necessary. So they boldly set 
about laying the foundations of a new political system. 

They determined that the government under the new Con- 
stitution should have three 
great departments : a legis- 
lative department, an ex- 
ecutive department, and a 
judicial department. The 
Legislature, or law-mak- 
ing department, was to be a 
Congress consisting of a 
Senate and a House of 
Representatives. In the 
Senate, each State, whether 
large or small, was to have 
two Senators, who were to 
be elected by the State leg- 
islature. In the House of 
Representatives the States Alexander Hamilton 

were to be represented according to population. In the first 
Congress that was to meet, a State was entitled to one Repre- 
sentative for every 30,000 inhabitants. The Representatives 
were to be elected directly by the votes of the people. 

Under the Articles of Confederation, you remember, there 
was no separate executive department, and for this reason the 
central government under the Articles was very weak. But 
■the men of the Convention were determined that the govern- 
ment under the Constitution should be strong. So they estab- 
lished an executive department and placed a President at its 
head. The President was to be chosen by Presidential electors, 
each State to have a number of electors equal to the combined 
numbers of Senators and Representatives to which it was en- 
titled in Congress. The President was given power to carry 
the laws of Congress into effect. 

In order to make the new government complete the Con- 




158 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



vention established a judicial department, at the head of which 
was the Supreme Court of the United States. The judges 
of this court were to be appointed by the President. But they 
were to be independent of the- President, and of Congress also ; 
for they were to hold their offices for life, and their salaries 
were never to be decreased, although they might be increased 
if Congress so desired. 

What powers did the men of the Convention give to this 




1 IK Luiibtitutional LoiULntion 

new government? In what respect was the central (national) 
government under the Constitution to be stronger than it had 
been under the Articles of Confederation? You can find very 
good answers to these question by reading the eighth section 
of the first article of the Constitution (p. 480). In this sec- 
tion you find that under the Constitution Congress has all the 
powers it had under the Articles of Confederation (p. 152) 
and two very important additional powers: (i) the power to 
regulate trade between the States and between the United 
States and foreign countries; and (2) the power to raise taxes 
and borrow money. So the new government was to be a very 
strong one. It was to reach the citizen personally, make laws 
for him to obey, take money out of his pocket for taxes, judge 



FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION 159 

him and punish him if he violated a law of Congress; and 
it was to do all these things with its own officers. Moreover, 
the authority of the new government was to he complete and 
undisputed, for the Constitution was to be the supreme law 
of the land. 

The men of the Convention worked all through a very hot 
summer. After a hundred days of toil their task was com- 
pleted and they signed their names to the new Constitution 
(p. 487). As the meeting was breaking up, Franklin, in very 
pleasing fashion, expressed his hopes that the Constitution 
would be successful. On the back of the great chair in which 
the presiding officer (Washington) sat there was painted a 
half-sun, brilliant with its gilded rays. Pointing to the chair, 
Franklin said: "As I have been sitting here all these weeks 
I have often wondered whether yonder sun ie rising or setting. 
But now I know that it is a rising sun ! " 

Ratification of the Constitution. According to its own 
provisions, the new Constitution could not go into effect un- 
less it was agreed to by at least nine of the States. So, 
promptly after it was completed, it was sent to the several 
States for approval. In some of the States it met with fierce 
opposition. Among its enemies were Patrick Henry and 
Samuel Adams. These men opposed the Constitution because- 
they believed it created a central government so strong that 
it would destroy the rights of the State and deprive the people 
of their liberties. But the Constitution had powerful sup- 
porters in every State. Among its friends were Alexander 
Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. These men worked 
hard for the ratification of the Constitution, and their labors 
were successful. One by one the States voted to accept the 
Constitution, and by the end of June, 1788, it had been ratified 
by nine States. So the plan of government drawn up by the 
Convention of 1787 became the Constitution of the United 
States, the Constitution under which we live to-day. The 
ratification of the Constitution was the last and by far the 
most important step taken in the formation of the Union. 

End of the Confederation. As soon as it was certain that 



i6o 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the Constitution had been ratified, the Congress of the Con- 
federation took the steps necessary to put the new govern- 
ment into operation. It ordered that the States should choose 
Presidential electors on the first Wednesday in January, 1789 ; 
that the electors should vote for President on the first Wed- 
nesday in February; and that the new Congress under the 
Constitution should meet in New York City on the first Wed- 




Tlie Nine Pillars of the Constitution 

nesday in March, which happened to be on the fourth of the 
month. After having made these arrangements for starting 
off the new government, the old government under the Articles 
of the Confederation came to an end. 

Safeguarding the Rights of the States and the Liberties 
of the People. The new federal government had hardly been 
■started before some very important amendments were added 
to the Constitution. The people were afraid that the new 
central government might prove to be a giant that would 
crush the rights of the States and deprive citizens of their 
liberties. So the first ten amendments (pp. 487-489) were 
adopted as a safeguard to personal freedom and the rights of 
the States. You ought to read these amendments carefully, 
for they breathe the spirit of true Americanism. Among other 
things, they provide that Congress can make no laws interfer- 
ing with the freedom of speech and of the press, or with the 
right of citizens to assemble in a peaceable manner, or with 
their right to petition the government. Since these rights are 
also guaranteed by the States, they are enjoyed by the whole 
body of American citizens. The American citizen is free to 
write and speak on any subject, and is free to print and pub- 



FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION i6i 

Hsh his sentiments and thoughts on any subject, provided he 
does not abuse the privilege. Citizens may hold meetings at 
which any one is free to express his views and declare his 
purposes fully and freely. Such meetings, however, must not 
lead to violence and their purposes must be lawful. A meetino- 
held for the purpose of taking steps to overthrow the govern- 
ment would be unlawful and would be broken up by the police. 
Citizens also have the right of petition. If you think your 
government should follow a certain course of action you have 
a right to make known your wishes to the officers of govern- 
ment; but you may not ask your government to do some- 
thing which it would be unlawful for it to do, and in making 
your petition you must do nothing disorderly. This heritage 
of freedom which our statesmen secured for us at the very 
beginning of our national existence is so precious that we 
ought to hold it " beyond all price, dearer to us than our lives." 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. 

2. Describe each of the three great departments of government pro- 
vided for in the Constitution. What were the powers of the new 
government under the Constitution? Relate the story told of Franklin. 

3. Tell the story of the ratification of the Constitution. 

4. Give an account of the ending of the old Congress of the Con- 
federation. 

5. Why were the first ten amendments added to the Constitution? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1643, 1776, 1781, 1783. 

2. Persons : Balboa, Magellan, De Soto, Roger Williams, Marquette, 
La Salle, Lafayette, George Rogers Clark, Cornwallis. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Tories, the Treason of Benedict 
Arnold ; the Northwest Territory. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Government; Steps in the Forma- 
tion of the Union; Wars before 1783; Commerce; Americanism. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) How the Framers of the Constitution 'traveled: Mc- 
Laughlin, 70-71. 

(2) The Federal Convention in 1787: McLaughlin, 80-81. 

(3) The Adoption of the Constitution: Eggleston. 194-220. 

(4) Read in the class : The Nczv Roof, Hart, i7c'^i8o. 




The Inauguration of Washington 



XXV 

LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 

As soon as the Constitution was agreed to by the States, the 
leading men of the country promptly organized a new government, 
and within a few years the foundations of a new political system 
were fairly established. Who were the men that laid these founda- 
tions? What problems did the new rulers have to face, and how 
did they deal with these problems? 

Washington the First President. Who was to be the first 
President of the United States under the new Constitution? 
Everybody felt that the man who was " first in war, first in 
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen " ought to be 
placed at the head of the new government. When the Presi- 
dential electors (p. i6o), therefore, cast their ballots in Janu- 
ary, 1789, for the first President, every vote went for George 
Washington. Washington at the time was in retirement at his 
home on the banks of the Potomac, where he longed to spend 
the rest of his*days in peace. He could not, however, turn 
a deaf ear to the call of his countrymen. When notified of 
his election, he started at once for New York, where Congress 
was in session. On his journey northward the people every- 
where came out to meet him and to bid him God-speed in 
the great work he was about to undertake. 

In New York, on April 30, 1789, in the presence of a vast 
multitude, he took the oath of office. The people shouted. 
" Long live George Washington, the President of the United 
States ! " and our nation began its life anew. 

The Organization of the New Government. One of the 
first things Congress and the President had to do was to 
organize the new government along the lines laid down by the 
Constitution. Congress at once created three great executive 
departments for the transaction of the government's business: 

163 



i64 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



a department of foreign afifairs, a department of finance, and 
a department of war. The heads of these departments were 
appointed by the President, and in making his selection Wash- 
ington aimed to get the very best men that could be found. 
For the Secretary of State — as the head of the department 
of foreign affairs was called — he chose Thomas Jefferson ; 
for the Secretary of the Treasury — as the head of the depart- 
ment of finance was called — he chose Alexander Hamilton ; 
for the Secretary of War he chose General Henry Knox. As 
the law officer of the new government Edmund Randolph was 
appointed, with the title of Attorney-General. These four 
men made up Washington's cabinet. Congress also provided 
at once for the organization of the new national courts. The 
first Supreme Court was made to consist of the Chief Justice 
and five associate justices. For the Chief Justice, Washington 
chose John Jay of New York. 

The new government was now fully organized to do busi- 
ness. There were the Senate and House of Representatives 
to make all needful laws ; there were the President and his 
cabinet to carry these laws into effect; and there were the 










Celebrating the Ratification of the Constitution m New York City 



LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 165 

national courts to try cases that arose under the laws of the 
United States. 
Raising Money for the Support of the New Government. 

The thing most needed by the new government was money. 
It needed money not only for its running expenses, but also 
for the payment of the interest on its debts. The new Con- 
gress, therefore, began to plan for a revenue even before it 
attended to the matter of organization. It laid a tariif, or tax, 
on foreign imports. The chief articles taxed were glass, tin, 
salt, tea, sugar, and wine. Under the old order of things, the 
States received the taxes on foreign imports; but under the 
Constitution the taxes on imports were to be turned into the 
treasury 'of the United States. The wisdom of this was seen 
at once. The tax on imports was soon bringing in $200,000 
a month. The government of the United States was no longer 
a beggar (p. 152) ; it had an independent income of its own. 

Measures for raising revenue were quickly followed by 
measures for paying ofif the public debt. There was reason for 
haste in this matter, for the United States at the time was 
looked down upon by other countries because it would not or 
could not pay its debts. Hamilton came forward with a plan 
to put the finances of the country on a sound footing and to 
restore the national credit. Hamilton had rendered noble ser- 
vice in securing -the ratification of the Constitution, and in the 
work of launching the new government under the Constitution 
he was second only to Washington himself. In the fulfilment 
of his duties as the Secretary of the Treasury he was so suc- 
cessful that " the whole country perceived with delight and the 
whole world saw with admiration. He smote the rock of the 
national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed 
forth. He touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it 
sprang upon its feet." ^ Hamilton urged Congress to plan for 
the payment of the foreign debt ($12,000,000) and of the home 
debt of the Confederation ($42,000,000). In addition, he 
urged that Congress should take upon itself the responsibility 
for the payment of the debts that the States had incurred in 

1 From a speech by Daniel Webster. 



i66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

behalf of the Revohition, debts amounting to about $21,- 

CKX),000. 

All the members of Congress were in favor of paying the 
foreign debt and the regular home debt of the Confederation, 
but there were many members who were opposed to paying the 
debts of the States. Now, it happened that, while the ques- 
tion of assuming the debt of the States was being discussed, 
there was going on also in Congress a lively discussion as to 
where the permanent capital of the nation should be located. 
Many of the Southern members wanted it on the Potomac ; 
many of the Northern members wanted it at some point farther 
north. At last a bargain was struck. Hamilton persuaded 
some of the Northern members to vote for a capital on the 
Potomac, and Jefferson persuaded some of the Southern 
members to vote for Hamilton's plan of assumption. So, 
thanks to the compromise, Hamilton's plan of assumption was 
carried, and it was agreed that the new capital should be located 
on the Potomac. 

First Bank of the United States. Hamilton also wanted 
to establish a bank in which the new government would have 
a direct interest. Such a bank, he claimed, would enable the 
government to borrow money on easy terms, and would be a 
safe and convenient place for depositing the funds of the gov- 
ernment. The measure was bitterly opposed, but Hamilton 
was again victorious in Congress, and in 1791 the first Bank 
of the United States was chartered for a period of twenty 
years. 

The Whisky Insurrection. In 1794 Washington had an op- 
portunity to show that the new government was much stronger 
than the old one had been. Congress had laid taxes on distilled 
spirits. In western Pennsylvania the manufacturers of whisky 
refused to pay the tax, and in resistance took up arms. 
Washington sent a large body of soldiers against the law- 
breakers, and the Whisky Insurrection was soon put down. 
This action of the President showed that the new government 
was strong enough to secure obedience to its laws. 

Beginnings of Political Parties. The discussion of the 



LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 167 

bank scheme caused men to divide into two political parties. 
A great many people thought the new government of the 
United States ought to do only the things that the Constitution 
expressly said it might do; and, since the Constitution said 
nothing about banks, Congress, these people contended, had 
no right to establish a bank. The men who believed in hold- 
ing Congress down strictly to the words of the Constitution 




The Building in which Washington Was Inaugurated 

formed themselves into a political party known as the party 
of strict construction, or the Democratic-Republican party, 
soon to be known simply as the Democratic party. The leader 
of this party was Thomas Jefferson. 

But many people did not believe in holding Congress strictly 
to the words of the Constitution. They believed in looking at 
the Constitution broadly, and thought that Congress had the 
right to choose all means that seemed to be necessary to carry 
out the purposes for which the government was established. 
Those who held these broad, liberal ideas in respect to the 
meaning of the Constitution rallied around Hamilton, and 
formed the Federalist party, or 'the party of broad construe- 



i68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

tion. Thus at the very beginning of our national life the 
people separated into two political parties. 

The French Revolution. In 1793 Washington had to solve 
■a knotty problem relating to the foreign policy of the United 
States. At this time France was in the midst of a bloody 
revolution. The common people, who had been unjustly 
treated for centuries, had turned against their rulers, had be- 
headed their King, and, taking government into their own 
hands, had established a Republic. This alarmed the other 
countries of Europe, and soon the new French Republic was 
at war with the combined forces of England, Spain, Austria, 
Prussia, and Russia. The war, beginning in 1793, continued 
to rage for about twenty years. 

During the greater part of this period Napoleon Bonaparte, 
the leader of the French armies, was trying to make himself 
the master of Europe, and England was trying to overthrow 
him. If, therefore, you wish to understand the history of 
the United States during the twenty years following i793> 
you must bear in mind that throughout nearly the whole of 
this period Europe was aflame with war and that France and 
England were fighting each other with all their might. You 
must also bear in mind that any neutral nation — that is, any 
nation that kept out of the war — ■ was liable to get into 
trouble with either France or England, or with both of these 
countries. 

The United States Neutral as Between England and 
France. In a very short time after the outbreak of the war in 
Europe the United States had to choose the part it would take 
in the struggle. Should we remain neutral? Should we help 
France or should we help England ? By the treaty made dur- 
ing the Revolution (p. 147) we were bound to show certain 
favors to France. Gratitude also prompted us to help the 
nation that had done so much for us. But the United States 
was just getting on its feet, and if in its weak condition it 
should plunge into a war with England it might be wholly de- 
stroyed. Washington, after consulting his cabinet, decided 
that the United States would take the part of neither France 



LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 169 

nor England, but would remain neutral. Just about the time 
he proclaimed neutrality, Genet, the minister from the new 
French Republic, arrived in America, and, in spite of Wash- 
ington's proclamation, tried to persuade the people to take up 
the cause of France. But in this the Frenchman failed. 
Sober-minded citizens saw that Washington was right and 
stood by him. 

Jay's Treaty. But there was trouble with England as well 
as with France. England was still holding the Western forts 
(Oswego, Mackinaw, and Detroit) and was interfering with 
our commerce. She was also taking our sailors and impress- 
ing them into her service in a way that the United States re 
garded as unfair. Washington was ready to take any fair 
means to avoid war, and h€ sent Chief Justice Jay to Eng- 
land to see if this could not be accomplished. Jay negotiated 
a treaty with England by which the Western forts were to be 
given up, but which otherwise was not very favorable to the 
United States. The treaty was very unpopular in America, 
but Washington signed it (in 1795) because he thought it was 
better than no treaty at all. The result showed that he acted 
wisely, for it prevented war, and under its provisions our 
commerce revived. 

Washington was unanimously elected (in 1793) for a 
second term, and would have been elected for a third term 
had he not been weary of public life. Near the end of his 
second term he delivered his famous Farewell Address, in. 
which he gave his countrymen many loving words of advice. 
He urged them to preserve as sacred the bonds of union by 
which the different parts of the country were held together, 
to respect and obey the Constitution, to shun the evils of 
partizanship, and to avoid entangling alliances with the 
countries of Europe. When his second term ended he retired 
to his estate on the Potomac, where he lived quietly and hap- 
pily until his death (December 14, 1799)- 



170 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the election and inauguration of Washington. 

2. How did Congress organize the new government? Name the 
members of Washington's cabinet. Who was the first Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court? 

3. In what way did Congress raise money for the support of the 
new government? What measures did Hamilton provide for paying 
the public debt? How was the location of the national capital de- 
termined ? 

4. Give an account of the establishment of the first Bank of the 
United States. 

5. Give an account of the Whisky Insurrection. 

6. What caused the division of men into political parties? Who 
was the leader of the Democratic-Republican party? What was the 
doctrine of the party? Who was the leader of the Federalist party? 
What was the doctrine of this party? 

7. What great event happened in France in 1793? What was Wash- 
ington's policy in dealing with England and France? What was the 
mission of Genet ? 

8. Give an account of Jay's treaty? 

9. What advice was given by Washington in his Farewell Address? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1522, 1763, 1783, 1787. 

2. Persons : George Calvert, Washington, Braddock, Franklin, 
Wolfe, Lafayette, George Rogers Clark, Cornwallis. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Treason of Arnold ; the North- 
west Territory; the Convention of 1787; the Ordinance of 1787. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Treaties; Government; English 
Colonization ; The French in North America. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Washington's Presidency: Eggleston, 213-221. 

(2) Washington at Mount Vernon: A New Nation, 3-16. 

(3) The Inauguration of Washington: A New Nation, 18-24. 

(4) Alexander Hamilton, Statesman: Paris, 98-1 11. 

(5) Read in the class: Washington's Inaugural Journey: 
Lane and Hill, 99-101. 



XXVI 
A WESTWARD MOVING PEOPLE 

During the years in which Washington and his fellow statesmen 
were setting in motion the wheels of the new government the cur- 
rent of. American life was running strongly toward the West. 
Men were leaving the older Eastern settlements and pushing more 
and more deeply into the Western forests and farther and farther 
out on the Western prairies. In truth, the history of the United 
States was for nearly two hundred and fifty years the history of a 
mighty westward movement which began at Jamestown in 1607 
and did not end until the Pacific coast was reached in the middle 
of the nineteenth century. In studying the history of our country, 
therefore, we must from time to time turn away from the political 
affairs of the nation, from the deeds of the President and Congress, 
to observe the progress of this westward movement and learn how 
the great wild West was brought under the control of the white 
man. In this chapter let us learn of the westward movement 
during the early years of our Republic. 

Three New . States. The westward movement in colonial 
times was slow. One hundred and fifty years passed before 
the Frontier Line (p. 78) was pushed beyond the Appa- 
lachian ridge. But after the War of the Revolution the wave 
of civilization began to move westward at a rapid rate. Set- 
tlers from all parts of the world began to rush into the new 
lands, like hungry cattle into new pastures. 

As s-oon as a district was filled tip with a sufficient number 
of settlers, steps were taken to organize it either as a Ter- 
ritory or as a State. If organized as a Territory it usually 
passed through two stages of government. In its first stage, 
when the number of its legal voters was less than 5000, it had 
no lawmaking body and was governed entirely by the governor, 
judges, and other officers appointed by the President. When 
the number of legal voters came to be more than 5000, the 

171 



172 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Territory passed into the second stage of government and was 
given a territorial legislature. When a new community was 
organized as a State it was admitted into the Union on an 
equal footing with the other States. 

The first State to be admitted into the Union under the Con- 
stitution was Vermont, a pioneer community whose settlement 
we may very well consider as a part of the westward move- 
ment. During the Revolution the Green Mountain people had 
adopted a Constitution and had declared Vermont to be an 
independent State ; but it was not recognized as such, for the 
reason that the Vermont region was claimed by New York. 
In 1790, however, New York gave up her claim, and the next 
year Vermont came into the Union as its first adopted daughter. 

By this time there were two communities in the West that 
deemed themselves worthy of the honor of Statehood. These 
were Kentucky and Tennessee (p. 109). Within a few years 
after peace with England had been declared the population 
of these two settlements was more than doubled. Kentucky 
originally belonged to Virginia. But after the Revolution the 
Kentuckians wished to break. away from Virginia and become 
a separate State. After long discussion and agitation their 
wishes were granted. Virginia consented to the separation, 
which took place in 1792, when Kentucky came into the Union 
as the second of the admitted States. 

The admission of Tennessee into the Union soon followed. 
Tennessee originally belonged to North Carolina; but in 1794, 
under the leadership of John Sevier, it was organized as a 
separate State, called Franklin, in honor of Benjamin Frank- 
lin. But the State of Franklin had only a short life, for North 
Carolina asserted her rights and the ofBcers of Franklin were 
driven from power. But North Carolina did not really care 
to hold this backwoods settlement permanently. In 1790 she 
ofifered to give Tennessee over to the government of the United 
States. Congress accepted the gift, and governed the country 
as a Territory until 1796, when Tennessee was admitted into 
the American Union as the sixteenth State. 

In the rapid and wonderful growth of Kentucky and 



A WESTWARD MOVING PEOPLE 



173 



Tennessee we see the first fruits "of the westward movement. 
Here, out of -the wild country south of the Ohio, arose, ahnost 
overnight, two prosperous, populous, well organized common- 
wealths, two States of the Union, that at once could hold their 
heads as high as the oldest and proudest of their sisters. 




Early Ohio 

Beginnings of Ohio. While pioneers from Virginia and 
North Carolina were pouring into Kentucky and Tennessee, 
other pioneers from New England were beginning to float 
down the Ohio in flat-boats and build their homes on the soil 
of the Northwest Territory (p. 154)- The first community 
to be built up in the Northwest Territory was Ohio. In 1788 
a party of for.ty-eigbt New Englanders, the Pilgrim Fathers of 
Ohio, landed at the mouth of the Muskingum in a bullet-proof 




Pioneers from New England on Their Way to Ohio 



174 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



barge which bore the historic name of Mayflozver. It was well 
that the barge was bullet-proof, for white men passing down 
the Ohio in boats were in constant danger of being shot by 
Indians lurking along the shore. The Mayflower party went 




Marietta, Ohio, in 1790 

ashore opposite Fort Harmar, where there was a regiment 
of soldiers. In the winning of Ohio, soldiers and settlers 
went hand in hand, for everywhere in the Northwest there 
were Indians, and every acre of land won by the ax and plow 
had to be guarded and defended by the rifle. 

Under the protection of the soldiers, the New Englanders 
began to fell trees and build houses, and to lay the founda- 
tion of Marietta, the oldest of Ohio towns and a place that 
in the history of the West holds a rank similar to that held 
by Jamestown and Plymouth in the history of the East. It 
was now necessary for the Ohio settlers to have a government. 
The form of their government had already been provided 
for them by the Ordinance of 1787. This was a law passed 
by the old Congress of the Confederation just before it passed 
out of existence. The famous ordinance provided that as the 
Northwest Territory filled up with people it should be divided 
into States — not fewer than three and not more than five. 
Each State was to be governed according to the v^ill of its 
voters ; there was to be no slavery ; religious liberty was guar- 
anteed; education was to be encouraged; Indians were to be 



A WESTWARD MOVING PEOPLE 175 

treated justly. When a community came to have as many 
as 60,000 inhabitants it was to be admitted into the Union 
as a State, with all the rights of the older States ; during the 
time in which a community was too small for Statehood it 
was to be governed as a Territory. 

Such were the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787. The 
law breathed the spirit of freedom, and showed plainly that 
Western settlers could look forward to fair treatment at the 
hands of the national government. The Western communities 
were not to be dependent colonies; they were to be self-gov- 
erning States. 

Under the terms of the Ordinance the Ohio settlement was 
to be a Territory and was to have a Territorial government. 
So at Marietta the wheels of Territorial government for the 
Northwest Territory were set in motion (July, 1788). Gen- 
eral Arthur St. Clair, who had climbed the rock of Quebec with 
Wolfe and who was a warm friend of Washington, had come 
out as Governor of the Territory. 

Cincinnati was founded about the same time as Marietta. 
In December, 1788, twenty-six settlers landed at the foot of 
what is now Sycamore Street in Cincinnati, and began to build 
a town which they called Losantiville, byt which afterward 
received its present name. Other settlements on the Ohio 
quickly followed those of Marietta and Cincinnati. The towns 
of Gallipolis, Portsmouth, Manchester, and South Bend all ap- 
peared within a few years after the founding of Marietta. 

As white men in Ohio became more numerous the red men 
became more troublesome. In 1791 Governor St. Clair was 
compelled to march against the Indians; but near the place 
where the city of Fort Wayne now stands he suffered a ter- 
rible defeat. General Anthony Wayne was next sent against 
the red warriors, and at Fallen Timbers (in 1794) he met them 
and dealt them a blow that broke their power completely in 
Ohio and drove them from the country. 

With the Indians out of the way, the settlement of Ohio 
could go on much faster. ' Towns began to be built farther up 
the streams and farther inland. In 1795 Dayton and Chilli- 



176 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



cothe were founded ; and the next year General Moses Cleve- 
land, with a few companions, founded, at the mouth of the 
Cuyahoga River, a town to which he gave his name. In 1800 
the original Northwest Territory was divided, and the eastern 
portion — the portion that is now Ohio — was set off as the 








' fti> 



Cleveland in 1800 

Territory Northwest of the Ohio, and was given a Territorial 
government of its own. The population of this new Territory 
was now more than* 40,000, and its people were already begin- 
ning to think of statehood. 

The Frontier Line at the End of the Eighteenth Century. 
So by the end of the eighteenth century the area of American 
civilization was spread over a vast amount of territory and the 
Frontier Line had been carried far to the west. In 1700 the 
Frontier Line ran very close to the seaboard (p. 80). In 
1800 it was beyond the Alleghanies and in some places it ran 
hundreds of miles west of those mountains. On a map of the 
United States, beginning at Oswego (New York), draw a line 
to Cleveland, to Cincinnati, to Louisville, to Nashville, to 
Savannah, and you will have the Frontier Line at the end 
of the eighteenth century (see colored map). You will ob- 
serve that by this time fully half the area of what was then 
the United States had been brought within the pale of civiliza- 
tion. 



A WESTWARD MOVING PEOPLE 177 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the admissioxi of Vermont; of Kentucky; of 
Tennessee. 

2. Tell the story of the settlement of Ohio. What were the pro- 
visions of the Ordinance of 1787? What towns in Ohio were built 
before 1800? 

3. Describe the Frontier Line at the end of the eighteenth century. 

REVIEWS 

1. Dates: 1588, 1564, 1783, 1789. 

2. Persons: Calvert, Drake, Raleigh, William Penn, Daniel Boone, 
Hamilton. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Invincihlc Armada; Life in the 
Backwoods; the Northwest Territory; the Convention of 1787; the 
Ordinance of 1787; the Whisky Insurrection. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Westward Movement; Treaties; 
Foreign Relations since 1789; Indians and Indian Wars; English 
Colonization. 

A Suggestion. At this point the pupil may with profit begin the 
preparation of a table of Admitted States. When from time to time 
account of the admission of a new State is given the date of its admis- 
sion, its area, its population, its capital, and the largest city should be 
written into the table. Such a table would show in an excellent way 
how our Union has come to be what it is. The table may be prepared 
according to the following plan : 



Name of 
State 



TABLE OF ADMITTED STATES 
Area in 



Date 
of ad- 
mission 



square 
miles 



Popula- 
tion in 
1910 



Capital 



Largest 

City 



(i) Vermont . 

(2) Kentucky . 

(3) Tennessee 



..1791 
..1792 
..1796 



9.565 355,956 Montpelier Burlington 

46,400 2,289,095 Frankfort Louisville 
42,050 2,184,789 Nashville Memphis 



XXVII 

OUR COUNTRY IN 1800 

In the last two chapters you learned of the principal events that 
occurred during the eight years in which Washington was Presi- 
dent. In this chapter let us learn what took place while Washing- 
ton's successor was President. Also let us take a survey of our 
country as it existed about the year 1800 and learn what kind of 
place the United States was at that time. 

President John Adams and the Trouble with France. 

Washington was succeeded (in 1797) by John Adams, who 
had been Vice-President during the first two administrations. 
Adams at once found that he was going to have trouble 
with France. That country felt that it had not been treated 
justly by the United States, and it showed its resentment in 
every way it could. It sent the American minister out of- the 
land. It seized upon American vessels wherever it could 
find them. Adams desired to avoid war if he could, so he 
sent three envoys to Paris to see if the difference between the 
countries could not be adjusted. The envoys were told that 
before they could be received they must pay a sum of money 
— " much money " — to the agent of the French government, 
and that the United States must lend money to France to en- 
able her to carry on war against England. The envoys would 
not listen to such terms and one of them, Charles Pinckney, 
with much spirit declared : " Millions for defense, but not one 
cent for tribute." These words were taken up in the United 
States and became a popular cry.^ The report of the envoys 
threw the people of the United States into a rage, and a 
shout went up for a war with France. Preparations for war 
were made, but Napoleon Bonaparte, then at the head of 
affairs in France, prevented a formal declaration of war by 

^ The names of the French agents who dealt with the envoys were 
concealed under the letters X. Y. Z., and these letters have always 
been used to give a name to this affair. 

178 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1800 i^^ 

ordering French cruisers to let American vessels alone, and 
by entering into a treaty that was satisfactory to both countries. 
The Alien and Sedition Laws. During the French troul)le 
Congress passed the 
famous Alien and Sedi- 
tion Laws. The Alien 
Law gave the President 
power to drive out of the 
country, without giving 
a reason and without 
holding a trial, any for- 
eigner whom he might 
regard as a dangerous 
person. The Sedition 
Law made it a crime for 
any one to print nrili 
cious writings for thi 
purpose of bringing tlir 
President and Congress 
into contempt. It was 
felt that the law dealt a 
blow at freedom of 
speech and liberty of the 
press. Neither of these 
laws was strictly en- 
forced, and very little 
came of them. 

Yet the Alien and Se- 
dition Laws had two 
very important results : 




John Adams 

Born in Massachusetts, in 1735; delegate to 
the Continental Congress: signed the Declara- 
tion of Independence; Vic-President. 1789-97; 
second President, 1797-1801; died July 4, 1826, 
on the same day with Thomas JeiTerson. 



First, they brought a storm of popular disfavor upon Adams 
and other Federalists, and helped to defeat Adams for 
reelection (in 1800) and to drive the Federalist party from 
power. Second, they called forth the Virginia and Kentucky 
Resolutions. These Resolutions declared that the Alien and 
Sedition Laws were in violation of the Constitution, and that 
it was the duty of the States to combine and refuse obedience 



i8o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

to the two laws. The hidden meaning of the resolutions was 
that if the States desired they could, by combined action, 
" nullify " or set aside a law of Congress — a doctrine that 
was to bring much evil upon the country. 

Population: the Chief Cities. About the time the adminis- 
tration of President Adams was drawing to a close the popula- 
tion of the country was increasing by leaps and bounds. One 
of the provisions of the Constitution is that the people shall 
be counted every ten years. In 1790, when the first census 
was taken, the population of the United States was about 
3,900,000; in 1800 it was about 5,300,000. Nearly all the 
people lived in the open country or in small villages. Only 
one person in twenty lived in a large town or city. In the 
South, with the exception of Charleston, there were no large 
cities at all. Philadelphia, with a population of 70,000, was 
the largest city in the United States, and, in the opinion of 
a French traveler, one of the most beautiful places in the 
world. Next to Philadelphia in size came New York, with 
a population of 60,000. Baltimore ranked third, with 26,000, 
and Boston fourth, with 25,000. The combined population 
of all the cities in the country was less than the present 
population of the single city of Seattle. 

Agriculture. In 1800 we were a nation of farmers. More 
than nine-tenths of the people were engaged in agriculture. 
The methods employed in tilling the soil were bad. Farmers 
seldom used fertilizers for improving their land. They tilled 
a piece of land until it would no longer yield a good crop, 
then they left it for a fresh piece. " Agriculture," said an ob- 
server, " does not consist so much in cultivating land as in 
killing it." Farm implements were such as had been in use for 
centuries, and they were of the rudest kind. The plow had a 
clumsy wooden mold-board, and a clumsier wooden frame. 
A New Jersey man, in 1797, patented a cast-iron plow, but the 
farmers would not use it. They said it poisoned the soil and 
prevented the growth of crops. 

Among the leading products of the farms were wheat, corn, 
tobacco, cotton, rice, beef, pork, tallow, butter, cheese, cattle 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1800 181 

and horses. Wheat, cotton, and tobacco were shipped to 
Europe in large quantities. In 1802 the tobacco and cotton 
sent abroad was equal in value to all other farm products 
combined. The production of cotton in 1800 was increasing 
at a startling rate. This was due to the success of the cotton- 
gin, which was invented by Eli Whitney in 1793. Before the 
appearance of Whitney's machine the woolly fiber of cotton 
had to be separated from the seeds by hand, and it took one 
person an entire day to clean a pound of cotton. With Whit- 
ney's cotton-gin one person could clean a hundred pounds in 
a day. 

Whitney's cotton-gin gave new life to slavery in the United 




Whitney's first 
Cotton-gin and 
the Cotton-gin 
of To-day 



States. In 1790 slavery in this country was dying out. In 
the Northern States it was becoming unlawful to hold slaves 
at all, and in the Southern States it was becoming unlawful to 
import them from abroad. But with the appearance of the 
cotton-gin slavery soon became vastly more profitable than it 
had ever been before. Now that cotton could be so easily 
and cheaply cleaned, larger fields of it were planted, and to 
till these fields a greater number of slaves was necessary. So 
the invention of the cotton-gin was not an unmixed blessmg. 
It enormously increased the production of cotton, but at the 
same time it bound the South to a system of slave labor. 

Manufactures. Manufacturing, like agriculture, was still 
in a rude and simple stage of development. A glimpse of 
the industrial life of the time is given in the following de- 



i82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

scription of a Massachusetts town: " There were about looo 
people in this town [North Brookfield]. These were nearly 
all husbandmen. What few mechanics there were were also 
farmers. Among these half-mechanics and half-farmers were 
a blacksmith, a nail-maker, a gunsmith, wheelwrights, carpen- 
ters, coopers, cobblers, broom-makers, and tailors. The cob- 
blers had a bench in their kitchen and would also go around to 
the farmers' homes with their kit and stay a week or so mending 




Mount Vernon, Showing the Plantation Shops 

and making the family supply of shoes. The father or grand- 
father was still making some of the brooms. The wheel- 
wright made ox-cart wheels, axles, and tongues, the remainder 
of the cart being made by the farmers. The carpenter had 
little to do, because every thriving man could hew, mortise, 
and lay shingles. The spinning, weaving, and dyeing were 
still done in the household. Every family owned a great 
and a little wheel as well as a loom. Soap was made in every 
family." ^ 

In some places there were shops where special trades were 
carried on, but these were usually small afifairs. In the South 
a rude kind of manufacturing was carried on by slaves. A 
great Virginia plantation, like Washington's at Mount Vernon, 
for example, had a mill for the making of flour; a forge for 
making nails and other articles of iron ; a carpenter shop ; and 

1 R. M. Tryon, " Household Manufactures," p. 145. 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1800 183 

a weaving-room where the coarse clothing for the slaves was 
made. Since there were no great factories at this time, there 
were no large bodies of workingmen who could be distinctly 
classed as employees. And there was no distinct class of 
employers. Almost every craftsman was himself a proprietor: 
he was the owner both of the tools with which he worked 
and of the articles that his craft fashioned. 

The Industrial Revolution in Europe. But this simple in- 
dustrial life was soon to be disturbed by the Industrial Revo- 
lution. And what was the Industrial Revolution? It was a 
movement in the industrial world that began in England in 
1734, when a mechanic named Kay invented the flying-shuttle 
for the loom and thereby made it possible for a weaver to 
weave twice as much cloth as he could weave before. The fly- 
ing-shuttle of Kay was followed by Arkwright's wonderful 
spinning-machine, which took the place of the old spinning- 
wheel. Then the power-loom was invented, and looms were 
driven by the water-wheel or by the steam-engine invented by 
James Watt. With the loom driven by a force of nature a 
single weaver could attend to several looms and weave five or 
six times as much cloth as a single person could weave in the 
olden time. 

Before the appearance of these inventions the fabrics of the 
loom were made chiefly of wool. But the new power-looms 
worked so fast that all the sheep in the world did not carry on 
their backs enough wool to keep the weavers busy. So manu- 
facturers began to use cotton in larger quantities than it had 
ever been used before, and they were delighted when Whitney's 
invention increased the output of cotton. 

While these great inventions were being brought into use 
the face of the civilized world was all the time changing. Be- 
fore the time of Kay and Arkwright the weavers and spinners 
of England had worked for themselves in their own homes or 
in their own little shops, where there were seldom more than 
two or three looms ; but now they gathered in large factories, 
where they worked as wage-earners for an employer. So 
the inventions of Kay and Arkwright and Watt had the re- 



i84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

suit of changing the household system of industry to the fac- 
tory system, and because the change was so great it was called 
the Industrial Revolution. 

Beginning of the Industrial Revolution in America. In 
England the Industrial Revolution was well under way by the 
end of the eighteenth century. The movement, however, was 
slow in reaching America for the English government would 
not allow the new machines to be taken out of Great Britain 
and it guarded carefully the secrets of their manufacture. 
Nevertheless, in one way and another, the secrets leaked out, 
and by the opening of the nineteenth century the factory sys- 
tem was beginning to gain a foothold in the United States. 
In 1790 Samuel Slater, an Englishman by birth, went to Paw- 
tucket, Rhode Island, and set up a good-sized cotton factory 
equipped with the new machinery. The establishment of Sla- 
ter's mill marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution 
in America. 

Every-Day Life of the People. When we come to look 
at the people themselves, we find that our ancestors of 1800 
were in many respects far behind their great-grandchildren of 
to-day. For example, in 1800 the mass of people had but little 
voice in matters of government. The right to vote did not 
belong to women at all. Nor did it belong to all grown men, 
as it does to-day, but only to men who owned a certain amount 
of property. 

The people of 1800 also were far behind us in matters of 
education. In respect to higher education considerable prog- 
ress had been made, for in almost every State there was at 
least one college, and in some of the States there were two or 
three. But the colleges were for the rich and well-to-do, and 
not for the common people. The masses were woefully ig- 
norant, the majority of them being unable to read and write. 
In no State was there a system of public schools in which all 
children, rich and poor alike, might receive an education. In 
the New England States there were more schools than in any 
other part of the country, but even there the schools were too 
few in number to educate all the children. Newspapers, which 



OUR COUNTRY IN 1800 



185 



now do so much for tlie 
education of the peo- 
ple, were few, while 
public libraries hardl\ 
existed at all. 

If we could go back 
to the year 1800 and get 
a glimpse of the people 
as they moved about in 
their houses and on the 
streets and in their 
shops and stores and 
factories, things would 




mi^^J'' 



An Old Time I'irc luigiiu 
Courtesy of the Macmillan Company 

appear so plain and simple and strange that we should 
seem to be looking upon another world. We now live in 
a world of steam and electricity, but in 1800 steam was 
used but little and electricity not at all. There were no steam- 
cars or steamboats, and of course there were no electric 
cars or automobiles. The streets were poorly paved, and if 
lighted at all it was only by dingy lamps, for even the gas- 
light had not yet come into use. Within the home many of 
those useful inventions were lacking that now do so much to 




An Early Stage-Coach 



i86 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

make life agreeable and comfortable. There was no telephone 
to keep the family in touch with the outside world. There were 
no sewing-machines to lighten the burdens of the housewife. 
There was no hot-air furnace or steam-heater to keep the house 
properly warmed. A cooking-stove was seldom seen; and as 
for a match to start a flame, that was a thing as yet unknown. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the trouble that President Adams had with 
France. 

2. What was the Alien Law? The Sedition Law? What two im- 
portant results did these two laws have? 

3. What was the population of our country in 1790? In 1800? 
What were the chief cities at that time? 

4. Give an account of the state of agriculture in 1800, and name the 
principal products. What effect did the invention of the cotton-gin 
have upon slavery? 

5. Describe manufacturing as it existed in 1800. 

6. Tell the story of the Industrial Revolution. 

7. Give an account of the every-day life of the people in 1800, 
touching upon the topics of voting, education, steam, electricity, useful 
inventions. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1689 (2), 1776, 1787 (2), 1789. 

2. Persons : Edmund Andros, Samuel Adams, Hamilton, Washing- 
ton. 

3. Tell what you can about : Bacon's Rebellion ; the Convention of 
1787; the Ordinance of 1787; the Whisky Insurrection; the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: European Background; Foreign Re- 
lations since 1789; Slavery; Population; Agriculture; Manufacturing; 
Education ; Great Inventions ; The French in North America. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The New Republic and Its People: Eggleston, 200-212. 

(2) Presidency of John Adams : Eggleston, 221-225. 

(3) X Y Z Correspondence : Hart, 191-194. 

(4) The Story of the Loom : Forman, 109-123. 

(5) The Story of the Steam Engine: Forman, 54-72. 

(6) Eli Whitney: Faris, 123-134. 



XXVIII 

THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE GREAT EXPANSION 

We saw (p. 179) that with the defeat of John Adams in 1800 
the control of the national government passed out of the hands of 
the Federalist party. It passed into the hands of the Democratic 
party, with Thomas Jefferson as the party chief and the victorious 
candidate for the Presidency of the United States. While Jeffer- 
son was President the area of our country was doubled. In this 
chapter we shall have the story of the great expansion, and also 
an account of other important events of Jefferson's administration. 

Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson began his 
term of office (March 4, 1801) in Washington, the new capital 
on the banks of the Potomac. The city, which is now the 
pride of the nation, was then a straggling village in a wilder- 
ness. The Capitol was unfinished, and the President's house 
(the White House) was in an open field and was hardly fit 
for occupancy. There were no good hotels in Washington ; 
the streets were unpaved ; and most of the conveniences and 
comforts of life were lacking. It is said that the President 
could not obtain, for love or money, a man to cut some wood 
for him in the forest that then surrounded the capital city. 

Washington and Adams liked a little pomp and ceremony 
at their inaugurations and public receptions ; but in the forest 
city in which Jefferson began his duties pomp and splendor 
were out of the cjuestion. The new President, therefore, was 
inaugurated in a very quiet and simple manner. Dressed as an 
ordinary citizen, he went on foot from his own lodging to 
the unfinished Capitol, his escort consisting of a small troop 
of militia and a few citizens who joined the little procession. 

Jefferson States the Essential Principles of Americanism. 
Jefferson, being a great champion of Americanism, to'ok great 

187 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



care to state in his Inau- 
gural Address what he 
beheved were the essen- 
tial principles of the 
American government. 
The principles, he said, 
were : 

Equal and exact jus- 
tice to all men. 

Peace, commerce, and 
honest friendship with 
all nations, entangling al- 
liances with none. 

The support of the 
State governments in all 
their rights. 

The preservation of 
the national government 
in its constitutional vigor 
as the sheet-anchor of 
our peace at home and 
abroad. 

A jealous care of the 
right of election by the 
people. 

The supremacy of the civil over the military authority. 
Economy in the public expenses. 
Encouragement of agriculture and of commerce. 
The diffusion of information (popular education). 
Freedom of the press and personal freedom. 
Trial by juries impartially selected. 

The Louisiana Question. Jefferson was hardly in office 
before he was called upon to settle the Louisiana question, 
the most important problem that came before him while he was 
President. It will be remembered that the region between the 
Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, a region that was 
known by the name of Louisiana, had been given by the treaty 




Thomas Jeticihun 
Born in Virginia in 1743; died in 1826. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE GREAT EXPANSION 189 

of 1763 (p. 105) to Spain. In 1800 Spain secretly began to 
make arrangements for giving Louisiana back to France. 
As soon as Jefferson heard of this he suspected that he might 
have trouble with France, just as Washington and Adams had 
had trouble with that country. Jefferson, however, was a man 
of peace, and he did not intend to have war with France if he 
could help it. At first he would take no decided action in 
reference to the Louisiana question, but in 1802 he saw that he 
would soon be compelled to do something, for in that year 
the Spaniards, who were still in control of Louisiana, in viola- 
tion of a treaty made with Spain in 1795, closed the naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi to American citizens and took away 
from them *' the right of deposit." This meant that Americans 
in the Ohio valley could no longer take their grain, tobacco, 
flour, and bacon down to New Orleans and sell them to for- 
eign countries or even to American merchants along the coast. 
To close the mouth of the Mississippi was like locking the 
front door of a house that had no back door, and the people 
of Kentucky and Tennessee and Ohio flew into a rage when 
they heard what Spain had done. They threatened to take 
matters into their own hands and to march against New Or- 
leans if the government at Washington did not come to their 
aid. 

Jefferson saw the growing importance of the West, and it 
was not in his mind to neglect the Western people. He desired 
to bring them relief, but he wished to do this by peaceful means. 
In 1803 he sent instructions to Robert Livingston, our minister 
at Paris, to buy from France, which by this time was in posses- 
sion of Louisiana, the little strip of land on which New Or- 
leans was situated, so that the people of the West might have 
a place to land their goods. He also appointed James Mon- 
roe a special envoy to assist Livingston in making the pur- 
chase. Livingston and ^lonroe found that they could purchase 
for the sum of $15,000,000 the whole of Louisiana, and they 
boldly did so (1803). 

When Jefferson heard what they had done, his feelings must 
have been like those of the man who shot at a squirrel and 



igo HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

brought down a bear! The President had intended to ac- 
quire only a few square miles of territory for the deposit oi 
American goods, and he had actually acquired a territory 
containing nearly a million of square miles, a region out of 
which afterward were carved thirteen great States — Louisi- 
ana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota (in part), Kansas, 




The United States After the Louisiana Purchase 

Nebraska, Colorado (in part). North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Montana (in part), Wyoming (in part), and Oklahoma (in 
part). 

The War with the Pirates. Throughout his entire adminis- 
tration Jefferson was kept busy in protecting our trade with 
foreign nations from attacks by outsiders. First there were 
the pirates of the Mediterranean to deal with. The ports 
of Algiers, Morocco, and Tripoli were infested by sea-robbers, 
who were accustomed to seize upon merchant vessels and de- 
mand a sum of money as tribute. If the money was not paid 
the vessel was plundered and the sailors were sold as slaves. 
Most of the nations preferred to pay the money rather than 



THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE GREAT EXPANSION 191 




Signing the A::,reemer.t for the Lonisiana Purchase 

•fight. The United States also paid the tribute for a while ; 
but the pirates grew so insolent and asked for so much money 
that Jefferson determined to fight rather than to pay tribute. 
So a war, known as the war with Tripoli, arose between the 
pirates and the United States. The struggle consisted of a 
series of sea-fights. It continued for several years, and was 
brought to an end in 1804, when a treaty of peace was made 
which relieved American vessels from paying tribute to pi- 
rates. 



192 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Unfriendly Conduct of England and France. But the pi- 
rates were not the greatest enemies of the American trade 
during the Presidency of Jefferson. The greatest harm to the 
commerce of the United States was inflicted by two civiHzed 
nations, England and France. These countries were still at 
war, and each nation was trying to injure the trade of the 
other as much as possible; but in striking at the trade of each 
other they gave, at the same time, a heavy blow to the trade 
of the United States. Americans at the time were carrying 
on a thriving trade with the French West Indies. England 
ordered that neutral nations — and the United States was a 
neutral nation — should not carry produce from the French 
West Indies to France, and many American vessels that dis- 
obeyed the order were captured by English war-ships. Again, 
Great Britain declared that neutral vessels should not trade 
with those countries of Europe that sided with France, and 
many American vessels attempting to enter the harbors friendly 
to France were seized. As a return blow, France forbade 
neutral vessels to enter British harbors, and captured American 
vessels that disobeyed. So American shipping was ground 
between two millstones. More than a thousand American 
vessels were captured by England and France. 

Besides capturing American vessels that were trading where 
England did not want them to trade, English sea-captains 
would stop an American vessel of any kind and take from the 
crew such seamen as they thought were Englishmen, and 
would impress these seamen into the service of the English 
navy. The men thus impressed might be. and sometimes were, 
American citizens, but that made no difference to England : 
Great Britain was the mistress of the sea and could do pretty 
much as she pleased. 

In 1807 a downright outrage was committed in the name of 
impressment. As an American frigate, the Chesapeake, was 
leaving the port of Norfolk, Virginia, the British ship Leopard 
stopped the American vessel and demanded the surrender of 
certain sailors who were on board. The commander of the 
Chesapeake refused to give up the men, and the Leopard 



THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE GREAT EXPANSION 193 

opened fire, killing three and wounding eighteen of the Amer- 
ican crew. This made the people of the United States very 
angry ; but their navy was weak, and they had to be content 
with the half-hearted apology the British government made. 

The Embargo; Non-Intercourse. To remedy some of the 
wrongs inflicted upon xA.merican commerce. Congress (in 1807) 
laid an embargo on American vessels ; that is, it forbade all 
vessels to sail from America to foreign ports. The purpose 
of the Embargo was to cripple the trade of England. That 
country had an immense trade with America, and Congress 
thought that if England were cut ofif from her American trade 
she would feel the loss so keenly that she would treat us bet- 
ter. But England paid very little attention to the Embargo, 
and it was soon found that we needed England's trade quite 
as much as she needed ours. Upon the whole, the Embargo 
did more harm than good. It ruined American shipowners 
and brought distress upon many thousands of sailors. In- 
deed, its results were so disastrous that it had to be repealed 
fourteen months after it was put into effect. As a substitute 
for the Embargo, Congress (in 1809) passed the Non-Inter- 
course Act. This forbade American vessels to trade with 
England and France, but permitted them to trade with other 
nations. 

James Madison. In 1809 Jefferson's second term expired. 
He could have been elected for a third term, but refused the 
honor. Washington had refused a third term, and Jefferson 
thought that the example set by Washington should be fol- 
lowed by all future Presidents. 

Jefferson expressed a wish that he might be succeeded in 
the Presidency by his friend James Madison of Virginia. 
The leaders of the Democratic party took the hint, and Madi- 
son was elected President in 1808 and reelected in 1812. 
Next to Jefferson himself, Madison at the time of his election 
was perhaps the greatest of American statesmen. We have 
seen him among the leaders in the Convention of 1787. His 
services in helping to frame the Constitution and secure its 
adoption were so great that he was called the Father of the 



194 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Constitution. He was a leader in Congress under Washington, 
and for eight years, acting as Secretary of State, was the chief 
of Jefferson's cabinet. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the election and inauguration of Jefferson. 

2. What principles of Americanism were announced by Jefferson? 

3. Why was it necessary that the United States should have Louis- 
iana ? 

4. Tell the story of the purchase of Louisiana. 

5. Why did Jefferson wage war upon Tripoli? What was the result 
of the war? 

6. In what ways did England and France act in an unfriendly man- 
ner toward the United States? Give an account of the impressment 
of American seamen by England. 

7. What was the Embargo of 1807? What were its resuJts? What 
was the Non-Intercourse Act? 

8. When and under what circumstances was Madison elected Presi- 
dent? What qualifications did he have for the office? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1507, 1776, 1789. 

2. Persons : John Smith, Hamilton, John Adams, Eli Whitney. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Stamp Act; the Whisky Insur- 
rection ; the Alien and Sedition Laws. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Americanism; Expansion since 1789; 
Foreign Relations since 1789; Religion; The Claims of Different 
Nations at Different Times ; The French in North America. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Thomas Jefferson: Faris, 68-79. 

(2) How we bought Louisiana: A New Nation, 25-29. 

(3) How a capital city was chosen : Coe, 186-190. 

(4) The Purchase of Louisiana : Coe, 198-206. 

(5) A Case of Impressment: Hart, 194-196. 



XXIX 

THE WAR FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 

We have seen that during the administration of Jefferson great 
harm was inflicted upon our ocean trade and upon our citizens by 
the unfriendly conduct of England and France. During the ad- 
ministration of Madison the outrages continued, with the result 
that in 1812 America was compelled to go to war with England in 
order to protect herself. 

England and France Continue to Harass American Com- 
merce. Madison had to face the same kind of trouble that 
had vexed Jefferson. France and England were still at war, 
and both nations were still capturing American ships and in- 
flicting injury upon American trade. There was a moment 
when Madison thought the long trouble with these two nations 
had come to an end. The British minister at Washington, 
Erskine, promised that Americans should be allowed to trade 
where they pleased if the President would not enforce the Non- 
Intercourse Act (p. 193). Relying upon the good faith of 
this promise of Erskine, Madison gave out the word that the 
Non-Intercourse Act would not be enforced and that American 
ships were free to trade with all foreign countries. In a few 
weeks a thousand American vessels, laden with wheat, rice, 
and cotton, " spread their white wings like a flock of long- 
imprisoned birds and flew out to sea." But this freedom was 
short-lived, for word came quickly from England that a mis- 
take had been made and that Erskine ha-d promised more than 
the British government was willing to grant. So the Non- 
Intercourse Act was again put into force, and our relations 
with England became as unsatisfactory as ever. 

Drifting- Toward War. The truth is, England and the 
United States had long been drifting toward war, and when 
Madison became President a clash was near at hand. Madi- 
son, like Jefferson, was a man of peace. His critics declared 
that he " could not be kicked into war." But Madison was un- 

195 



196 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



able successfully to withstand the war feeling that was rising 
in the United States. We were having a great deal of trouble 
with the Indians in 181 1, and the people thought, perhaps 

without good reason, 
that England was se- 
cretly encouraging the 
savages to rise in rebel- 
lion against the Ameri- 
cans. Then William 
Pinkney, our minister 
to England, after years 
of patient eflfort to gain 
fair treatment from the 
English government, 
came home (in 181 1) 
in disgust, and this 
withdrawal caused the 
people to think that 
nothing fair could be 
expected from Eng- 
land. Moreover, bad 
blood was stirred by an 
actual encounter (in 
181 1 ) between the 
American frigate Pres- 
ident and the British ship Little Belt. But the thing that did 
most to create a war feeling was the impressment of our sea- 
men ; England still persisted in going aboard our ships and tak- 
ing away our sailors. 

In 181 2 the storm that had been brewing for twenty years 
gathered and broke. In April Congress began to prepare for 
war, and in June war upon Great Britain was formally de- 
clared. In giving the reasons for going to war Congress 
declared that our flag had been violated on the high seas ; that 
out ports had been blockaded ; that the British had encouraged 
the Indians to attack our citizens in the West ; and that our 
seamen had been impressed. 




Tames Madison 

Born in Virginia in 1751; fourth President, 
1809-17; died in 1836. 



THE WAR FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 197 

The country was in no condition to go to war. The few 
soldiers we had were scattered through the West, at Detroit, 
Fort Dearborn, Fort Wayne, and other posts where they were 
needed to defend the frontier against the attacks of the In- 
dians. On the sea we were weaker than we w'ere on land. 
Our navy consisted of only twelve first-class fighting ships, 
while our enemy had nearly a thousand. Our military leaders 
were nearly all very old men. They had fought in the Revolu- 
tion, but fe\v of them had commanded regiments in battle. 
Even worse than this lack of preparation for war was the 
divided sentiment of the country. Only in the South and in 
the West was the war popular. In New York and New Eng- 
land the people did not want war. Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, and Rhode Island flatly refused to send their share of 
soldiers. 

The European Background of the War of 1812. For the 
European background of the w^ar we must turn our eyes to 
the great conflict between England and France which had been 
raging so long (p. 168) and which in 1812 was at its height. 
England was now in a death grapple with Napoleon and she 
felt that if he was not crushed her own freedom would be lost, 
and that all Europe would be brought under the heel of a 
tyrant. The English people, therefore, having war enough on 
their hands, would gladly have avoided the conflict with the 
United States. The English government actually took meas- 
ures to maintain peace with America. Two days before Con- 
gress declared war, British naval vessels were ordered to cease 
capturing American ships. But there was no Atlantic cable or 
wireless telegraph in those days, and by the time the news 
reached the United States the war had already begun. It was 
now too late for peace. For Congress was largely under the 
control of Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, and these young 
" war hawks " — as John Randolph called them — insisted that 
the war must go on. So Great Britain found herself compelled 
to fight a war in America at a time when her best troops were 
on the Continent struggling with the armies of France. 

The Attack upon Canada. The War of 1812 began with a 



198 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

plan for an invasion of our northern neighbor. William 
Hull, the Governor of Michigan Territory, crossed from De- 
troit into Canada with about 2000 men for the purpose of tak- 
ing Fort Maiden. Hull had seen service in the Revolutionary 
War, but by 1812 his fighting days were over. At Fort Mai- 
den he became disheartened and retreated to Detroit. The 
British General Brock now approached Detroit with an army 
smaller than that of Hull and demanded the surrender of 
the fort. In obedience to the summons the American general 
hoisted a white table-cloth as a sign of surrender, and Detroit 
and the whole of Michigan Territory passed into the hands of 
the British. 

The Struggle on the Sea and on the Great Lakes. On the 
ocean the first year of war brought us much greater success 
than we had met with on land. The most famous of the sea- 
fights in the War of 1812 was that fought between the Consti- 
tution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, a nephew of the 
commander of Detroit, and the British frigate Guerricre. 
These ships met far out on the ocean and fought an old-time 
naval duel. The victory of the Constitution — "Old Iron- 
sides," it was afterward called — was complete. In half an 
hour the British ship was a helpless and shattered hulk lying 
in the trough of a heavy sea with water running into the barrels 
of her heavy guns. The result of this sea-fight startled the 
English nation. And well it might, for it was now certain that 
American war-ships could send the best of the English war- 
ships to the bottom of the sea. 

The success of our navy on the ocean was matched by our 
naval victories on the Great Lakes. England had a fleet on 
the upper lakes, and the Americans, under the leadership of 
Oliver Hazard Perry, a brave young naval officer scarcely out 
of his teens, undertook to rid the lakes of the British ships. 
The American ships had first to be built. " The timber of 
the coming fleet was still standing in the woods; the iron- 
work, stores, canvas, and cordage were in New York and 
Philadelphia." But sleds and wagons brought the necessary 



THE WAR FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



199 



materials through deep snows to the shores of Lake Erie, and 
scores of wood-choppers and ship-carpenters were put to work. 
By July, 1813, five newly built vessels were ready to sail against 
the English vessels on the lakes. Perry came upon the British 
at Put-in-Bay, off Sandusky, Ohio, and one of the hottest bat- 
tles in our naval history followed. 

At one time Perry's own ship, the Lawrence, was about to 
sink. The young commander made his way in a little boat 
to another vessel, and kept up the fight until the British fleet 
raised the white flag and surrendered (September 10, 1813). 




Scene of the War of 1S12 

Perry announced his vic- 
tory to General Harrison in 
the famous words : " We 
have met the enemy, and 
they are ours : two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one 
sloop."' This victory made it easy for the Americans to regain 
control of Detroit and the Michigan country. 
Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. In 1814 there was more 



200 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

fighting in the neighborhood of Niagara Falls. In July Gen- 
eral Brown and young Winfield Scott — of whom we shall 
hear again — met the British forces just above the falls at 
Chippewa and defeated them. A few days later the two ar- 
mies again met in battle at Lundy's Lane, where the roar of 
artillery was answered by the roar of the great falls near by. 
The fighting in this battle was fierce, but neither side could 
claim the victory. There were other battles along the Cana- 
dian border, but they settled nothing. The Americans made 
no headway into Canada, and the British could get no foot- 
hold on American soil. 

The War Along the Atlantic Coast. Along the Atlantic 
coast the British throughout the war did all they could to de- 
stroy property and keep the cities in a state of alarm. In 
August, 1814, the British General Ross, with a trained army of 
3500 men, landed at Benedict, on the Patuxent River in Mary- 
land, and marched upon Washington. The Americans, with 
an army of raw, untrained men, gave battle to the British at 
Bladensburg, but could not check the advance upon the capital. 
Troops under Admiral Cockburn entered the new Capitol 
building, and somebody climbed into the Speaker's chair and 
put the question : " Shall this harbor of Yankee Democracy 
be burned?" All cried, "Aye," and the torch was applied to 
the building. The White House also was set on fire. There 
was no good excuse for these outrages, and England herself 
was ashamed of the conduct of her soldiers at Washington. 

After the capture of Washington the British moved upon 
the larger and richer city of Baltimore. But Baltimore was 
prepared for the attack. The guns at Fort McHenry would 
not allow the British to approach the city. All day and far 
into the night the British bombarded the fort, but could not 
capture it. Francis Scott Key during the night had been 
watching the bombardment, and when in the morning he saw 
our flag still waving from the walls of the fort, he was in- 
si)ired to write the beautiful patriotic hymn, " The Star- 
Spangled Banner." The British fleet, being unable to pass 
the fort, abandoned the siege of Baltimore and sailed away. 



THE WAR FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 



201 



The Hartford Convention. We saw that the people of New 
England were from the beginning opposed to the War of 1812. 
Before the war was over this opposition showed itself in a 
rather ugly fashion. In 1814 a convention of delegates from 
five New England States met at Hartford to consider the state 
of public affairs. 

After long discus- , ^ , , 'm 

sion behind closed 
doors, the conven- 
tion made a report 
which strongly 

hinted that the 
time might be com- 
ing when the States 
would be justified 
in withdrawing 
from the Union. 
" Acts of Congress 
in violation of the 
Constitution," the 
report went on to 
say, " are absolute- 
ly void, and States 
that have no com- 
mon umpire must 
be their own judges 
and execute their ■„- i, ^ , , -. 

own decisions." 
Here was the doc- 
trine of the Kentucky Resolutions, the doctrine of nullification 
(p. 179), over again. Nothing important came of the doings 
of the Hartford Convention, for the war ended almost before 
the report was made. Nevertheless the report caused the 
leaders of the convention to become very unpopular, and, 
since those leaders were Federalists, the convention did much 
ts hasten the death of the already dying Federalist party. 

Battle of New Orleans. In 18 14 Napoleon was overthrown. 




'"sei^'-^^-ti^^^ 



202 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

After his downfall England could give more attention to the 
war in America. Late in 1814 she sent a fleet of fifty vessels 
and an army of 16,000 veterans under Sir Edward Pakenham 
against New Orleans. The purpose of Pakenham was to 
wrest the whole province of Louisiana from the United States. 
If the British should be successful in this purpose the great 
work of Jefferson would be undone and the United States 
would lose half its territory. Surely it was a great prize 
Pakenham was to fight for! The defense of New Orleans 
was given over to Andrew Jackson, who had an army of 6000 
raw troops. Among Jackson's men, however, there were a 
great many Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen, who generally 
hit what they shot at. Jackson fortified the city by throwing 
up earthworks. After several skirmishes Pakenham made a 
last bold charge (January 8, 181 5) upon the banks of earth. 
The Americans did not fire until the British were close at hand. 
Then the riflemen began to shoot, and whole platoons of the 
British fell in their tracks. In twenty-five minutes Jackson 
had won the victory. The British lost their commander and 
2500 men. The American loss was 8 killed and 13 wounded. 
So Louisiana was saved to the United States. 

Treaty of Ghent; Results of the War. If there had been 
such a thing as a telegraph system in 181 5, the battle of New 
Orleans would never have been fought; for two weeks before 
the battle occurred a treaty of peace had been agreed upon 
between the United States and Great Britain. This treaty, 
known as the treaty of Ghent (the city where it was drawn 
up), settled nothing of importance. Both nations were tired 
of the war, and the treaty was simply an agreemertt to stop 
fighting. Nothing was said in the treaty about impressment 
of seamen, which was the chief cause of the war, and there 
was no giving up of territory by either side. 

So far as outward and immediate results were concerned, 
both nations, at the end of the war, were precisely where they 
were at the beginning. Nevertheless the war was a good thing 
for the United States, since after the treaty of Ghent it was 
a hundred years before any nation dared again to treat our 



THE WAR FOR COMMERCIAL FREEDOM 203 

commerce on the seas as if we were weaklings unable to de- 
fend our rights. The War of 1812 was truly the second war 
for independence — commercial independence. Henceforth 
trade on the ocean was free and sailors' rights secure. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the promise made by Erskine. 

2. What events showed that England and the United States were 
drifting toward war? When and why was war declared? Show that 
our country was unprepared for war. 

3. Describe the European background of the War of 1812. 

4. Give an account of the invasion of Canada. 

5. Describe two important sea-fights of the War of 1812. 

6. What battles were fought in 1814 along the Canadian border? 

7. Describe the operations of the British in 1814 along the Atlantic 
coast. 

8. Why did the Hartford Convention meet What was the action 
of this convention? 

9. What was the purpose of the British in attacking New Orleans? 
Give an account of the battle of New Orleans. 

10. What was settled by the treaty of Ghent? What was the chief 
result of the War of 1812? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1588, 1604, 1776, 1803. 

2. Persons : Champlain, Henry Hudson, James Oglethorpe, John 
Adams, Eli Whitney, James Madison. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Patroons; the Pennsylvania Dutch; 
the Scotch-Irish; the Treason of Arnold; the Alien and Sedition Laws; 
the Louisiana Purchase ; the Embargo of 1807. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The French in North America; Wars 
since 1783; Foreign Relations since 1789; Treaties; The Tariff; Nulli- 
fication and Secession. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Causes of the War of 1812: A New Nation, 43-46. 

(2) The Battle of New Orleans: A New Nation, 62-70. 

(3) The Battle of Lake Erie: Hitchcock, 157-172. 

(4) How the Embargo Was Enforced and Evaded : Mc- 
Laughlin, 113-121. 

(5) Capture of Washington: Hart, 218-220. 

(6) Read in the class the poem " Old Ironsides " : Lane and 
Hill, 121-122. 

(7) The Star-Spangled Banner: A New Nation, 67-71. 



XXX 

LIFE IN THE OLD NORTHWEST 

While Jefferson and Madison were fighting for our rights as a 
nation, the great work of winning the West did not cease for a 
single day. With the opening of the nineteenth century the stream 
of emigration to the unsettled parts of the country flowed faster 
than ever. Between 1800 and 1820 the population of the West 
and Southwest increased nearly 2,000,000, and nearly half a million 
square miles of territory were rescued from savages and wild 
beasts and brought under the control of white men. In this chap- 
ter and the next we shall learn how this stupendous task was 
achieved. 

Ohio Becomes a State; the Sale of Public Lands. When 
we left the story of the westward movement a large portion of 
what is now Ohio had been set ofif as a separate Territory 
and was looking forward to statehood (p. 176). In 1802 
Congress passed a law enabling the people of this Territory to 
frame a constitution for themselves. Accordingly a con- 
stiutional convention met at Chillicothe and drew up a con- 
stitution. This was accepted by Congress, and in 1803 ^'''g 
Territory Northwest of the Ohio was admitted into the Union 
as the State of Ohio. 

X'ow that it was a State, Ohio grew more rapidly than ever. 
A chief cause of its growth was the liberal policy that the na- 
tional government adopted with respect to the public lands of 
the Northwest Territory. Congress, as we have seen (p. 154), 
could dispose of these lands as it saw fit. At first it sold 
the land only in large tracts, and nobody but the rich could 
buy. In 1800, however, it adopted a new plan. It divided the 
land into small tracts and sold them at $2 an acre, one fourth 
of the money to be paid in cash. So after 1800 a settler with 
$50 in cash could become the possessor of a good-sized Western 

204 



LIFE IN THE OLD NORTHWEST 



205* 




F;©Pl 



I ' '"(mi 







Starting Out Over the National Road 
A Conestoga wagon in the Bull's Head Inn yard, Philadelphia. 

farm. The cheap land attracted settlers of moderate means 
and caused Ohio and the whole Northwest to grow in popula- 
tion at a rapid rate. 

The National Road. Another event that quickened the 
growth of the Northwest was the building of the National 
Road. When Ohio was admitted as a State, Congress prom- 
ised to take part of the money received for public lands in Ohio 
and use it for building a road over the Alleghanies. The 
promise was kept, and by 1818 a great national road had been 
built from Cumberland, in Maryland, to Wheeling, then in 
Virginia. From first to last, Congress spent nearly $7,000,000 
on the National Road, and it was money well spent. On the 
smooth bed of the new highway travelers could move with 
ease and comfort, and goods could be carried over the moun- 
tains at half the cost at which they were carried before. 

Steamboats. The invention of the steamboat also played 
an important part in the building up of the West. As early 
as 1786 James Rumsey of Shepherdstown (then in Virginia) 
propelled on the Potomac River what was perhaps the first 
boat ever moved by steam. The next year John Fitch was 
running a steamboat on the Delaware River. But the boats 
of Rumsey and Fitch were clumsy affairs and were unsuccess- 



* 206 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



fill. The first really successful steamboat was built by Robert 
Fulton of New York. In 1807 Fulton's steamboat, the 
Clermont, made a trip on the Hudson River from New 
York to Albany in thirty-two hours, returning in thirty 
hours. 

Within four years after the launching of the Clermont, 
steamboats began to be built west of the Alleghanies, and by 
1820 Western rivers were alive with the new craft. The re- 
sult was an enormous increase in the volume of trade between 
the different sections of the Mississippi valley. 

Indiana. One of the first places to feel the benefit of the 
cheap lands, the National Road, and the steamboat was Indiana. 
When the Northwest Territory was separated (in 1800) the 
western portion was called Indiana Territory. William Henry 

Harrison was the first 
Governor of this Ter- 
ritory, and the 
capital 
French 




first 

old 

Vin- 



Fulton's Steamboat, Clermont 



was the 
town of 
cennes. 

For a while the set 



tlement of Indiana proceeded at a slow rate. The Territory 
was infested with Indians, and emigrants avoided it, preferring 
to settle in Kentucky or Ohio, where the Indian had been put 
down. But it was not long before Indiana was made safe for 
the white men. Governor Harrison wished to get along in a 
peaceful manner with the Indians. He bought from them a 
large tract of land, agreeing to pay a fair price for it. But 
the red men felt that they had not been dealt with fairly and 
they stubbornly refused to give up their hunting-grounds. 
Worse than this (in 181 1 ) the Indians under Tecumseh plotted 
to drive all the whites out of Indiana. 

Harrison called the plotters before him and accused them of 
conspiracy. Tecumseh met the charge fearlessly, and was so 
defiant that there was nothing for the Governor to do but 
march against the Indians and destroy them in Indiana as 
" Mad Anthony " Wayne had destroyed them in Ohio. This 



LIFE IN THE OLD NORTHWEST 



207 



Harrison did when he met them in battle at Tippecanoe (No- 
vember 7, 181 1 ) and defeated them with great slaughter. 

Now that the Indians were no longer to be feared, settlers 
came in more rapidly, and by 18 15 Indiana had enough in- 
habitants to become a State. In 18 16 representatives of the 
people met at Corydon, then the capital of the Territory, and 
framed a State Constitution. As the weather was warm, 
the sessions of the convention were held under a great elm- 
tree. The constitution drawn up by the open-air convention 
was accepted by Congress, and Indiana was admitted into the 
Union in 181 6. 

Illinois. In 1809 Indiana and Illinois were separated, and 
the latter was made a Territory, with the old French town 
of Kaskaskia as its capital. In the conditions of their settle- 
men»t and growth Indiana and Illinois were twin sisters. The 
Indian question in Illinois was for the most part settled by 
the ba«ttle of Tippecanoe; yet during the War of 1812, at 
For.t Dearborn, on the present site of Chicago, there was a 
terrible massacre of white men. 




Along the Ohio River: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois 

After Illinois became a Territory its population increased 
very fa^t. By 181 1 steamboats were rmming on the Ohio 
River, and the trip from Pittsburgh to Shawneetown could be 



208 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



made in a few days. Roads through the Western country were 
by this time being built, and ferries and bridges and taverns 




Cincinnati in 1810 

were improving. Everything invited emigration from the older 
States. In 1809 Illinois had a population of 10,000; nine years 
later the Territory had a population of perhaps 50,000, and was 
admitted into the Union as a State. 

Life in the Middle West in the Early Days. We have now 
seen that within -thirty years after the landing of the " Pil- 







Frontier Life 



grim Fathers of Ohio " at 
Marietta (p. 175) three of 
,) our greatest States were 
carved out of the original 
Northwest Territory. In 
each of the States the growth 
in population and wealth 
was wonderful. In Ohio, 
in Indiana, in Illinois, forests 
md swamps disappeared, and 
in -their places appeared smil- 
ing fields of wheat and corn. 
Hani^ets grew to towns, and 
towns to -thriving cities. 



But these changes were not wrought by magic. These great 
States were built up only by the hardest kind of labor and by 



LIFE IN THE OLD NORTHWEST 



209 



great sacrifice on the part of the early settlers. Life in the 
Middle West a hundred years ago was not the pleasant, con- 
venient, comfortable thing it is to-day. It was the plain, sim- 
ple life of the pioneer farmer. " The farmer raised his own 
provisions ; tea and coffee were scarcely used except on some 
grand occasions. The farmer's sheep furnished wool for his 
winter clothing ; he raised cotton and flax for his summer 
clothing. His wife and daughters spun, wove, and made it 
into garments. A li^ttle copperas and indigo, with the bark of 
trees, furnished dyestuffs for coloring. The fur of the rac- 
coon made him a 
hat or a cap. The 
skins of deer or of 
his cattle, tanned at 
a neighboring tan- 
yard or dressed by 
himself made him 
shoes or moccasins. 
Boots were rarely 
seen even in the 
towns. And a log 
cabin made entirely 
of wood, without glass, nails, hinges, or locks, furnished the 
residence of many a contented and happy family. The people 
were quick and ingenious to supply by invention and with their 
own hands the lack of mechanics and artificers. Each farmer 
built his own house, made hi«s own plows and harness, bed- 
steads, chairs, cupboards, and tables." ^ 

These pioneers of Ohio and Indiana and Illinois laid the 
foundation of the great West, and they rendered a noble serv- 
ice in the upbuilding of our country. From among their own 
number and from among their children and grandchildren 
have come many of our foremost statesmen, soldiers, and 
scholars. Ohio sh-ares with Virginia the honor of being the 
" Mother of Presidents " ; Indiana is justly proud of many 
celebrated men ; while from the rough life of early Kentucky, 




The House in which Abraliam Lincoln 
Lived in Illinois 



^ Ford, " History of Illinois," p. 41. 



210 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Indiana, and Illinois there emerged the greatest American of 
the nineteenth century — Abraham Lincoln. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the admission of Ohio into the Union. What 
was a chief cause of the rapid growth of Ohio? How did Congress 
dispose of the pubHc lands at this time? 

2. Give an account of the building of the National Road. 

3. What was the early history of steamboat-building in the United 
States? What was the early history of the steamboat on Western 
rivers? 

4. Give an account of the early history of Indiana. 

5 What was the early history of Illinois? When was it admitted 
into the Union? 
6. Describe fully the pioneer life of the Middle West. 

REVIEWS AND READINGS 

1. Dates: 1620, 1781, 1783, 1803. 1812. 

2. Persons : John Winthrop, Marquette, La Salle, Lafayette, George 
Rogers Clark, Cornwallis, John Adams, Eli Whitney, James Madison, 
Andrew Jackson. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Line of Demarcation; the Pilgrims; 
the Puritans ; the Alien and Sedition Laws ; the Louisiana Purchase ; 
the Embargo of 1807; the Era of Hard Feeling; the Monroe Doctrine. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Westward Movement; The 
Presidents; their Election and Inauguration; Means of Communica- 
tion ; Indians and Indian Wars ; Agriculture. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Steamboat on Western Waters: Bogart, 195-197. 
(2) Expansion of the Union : Eggleston, 263-268. 

(3) The Story of the Steamboat: Forman, 201-210. 

(4) A Settler in Illinois : Hart, 237-240. 

(5) The Ohio Valley in 1817: McLaughlin, 140-147. 

(6) Robert Fulton and the Clermont: A New Nation, 95- 
105; Faris, 1 12-122. 



XXXI 

AROUND THE GULF OF MEXICO; ACROSS THE 
MISSISSIPPI 

While pioneers were settling the country north of the Ohio 
River, other pioneers were settHng around the Gulf of Mexico 
and still others were pushing out into the wilderness far beyond 
the Mississippi. So the story of the westward movement now 
takes us to the shores of the great Gulf and to the land beyond the 
" Father of Waters." 

Louisiana. While a kingdom of wheat and corn was rising 
in the country bordering on the Ohio River, there was rising 
a kingdom of cotton and sugar in the country bordering on the 
Gulf of Mexico. The story of the development of the South- 
west begins with Louisiana, the first State carved out of the 
Great Purchase (p. 190). When Louisiana came into our 
possession in 1803, it was at once given by President Jefferson 
to his young friend W'illiam Claiborne, to be governed as he 
might think proper until Congress should provide for the 
Territory a regular form of government. Governor Claiborne 
took possession of Louisiana in the city of New Orleans in 
December, 1803. 

After proclaiming that Louisiana belonged to the United 
States, the French Governor handed over to Claiborne the 
keys of the city of New Orleans. The new Governor then 
made an address to the people, assuring them that the United 
States received them as brothers, and promising them that 
they should be protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, 
property, and religion. When the Governor had finished his 
address the French flag was lowered and the American flag 
was raised. Thus Louisiana passed from the power of France 
into the power of the United States. 

211 



212 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Around the Gulf of Mexico 

After Louisiana was brought under American rule it flour- 
ished as never before. Planters moved down with their slaves 
from the older States, and began to till the rich cotton and 
sugar lands of the lower Mississippi. The result was a rapid 
growth in population. By 1812 the number of people within 
the boundaries of what is now the State of Louisiana was 
sufficient for Statehood. So in that year Louisiana was made 
a State. 

Mississippi; Alabama; Florida. While planters were mov- 
ing down into Louisiana, pioneers were also entering the Mis- 
sissippi country — the region that now includes the two States 
of Mississippi and Alabama. This was still a wild region and 
was infested by Indians, the most troublesome of whom were 
the Creeks. But Andrew Jackson, with 1500 Tennessee volun- 
teers, was sent against the Creeks, and when he had finished 



AROUND THE GULF OF MEXICO 



213 




( )1(1 Time View of Xatchcz 



with them their power was completely broken ; they had lost 
most of their fighting men and the best part of their lands. 
Great streams of cotton planters now poured into the Missis- 
sippi country, and in a few years two more States were built 
up. The first of these was Mississippi, which entered the 
Union in 1817; the second was Alabama, which was admitted 
in 1819. 

After the Creeks had been defeated by Jackson, some Creek 
warriors fled to Florida and joined the Seminoles. In 1816 
the Seminoles and about a thousand negro slaves, who had es- 
caped from their masters, invaded Georgia. They plundered 
the southern part of the State, burning barns, driving ofif cat- 
tle, and killing white men. Andrew Jackson went after the 
Seminoles in the same fierce manner that he had gone after 
the Creeks, and it was not long before the Florida Indians 
were defeated in battle and brought to their senses. Jackson 
now practically took possession of Florida, although at the 
time it belonged to Spain (p. 147). By nature Florida be- 
longed to us, and sooner or later it was bound to pass into 
our hands. Spain saw this and decided to sell the country 
to us. So in 1 8 19 Spain agreed to a treaty that transferred 



214 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Florida to the United States for the sum of $5,000,000. Three 
years later Florida was made a Territory and in 1845 was ad- 
mitted into the Union. 

Thus, within a few years, three great States and a Terri- 
tory arose out of the wilderness that encircled the Gulf of 
Mexico. The Gulf States grew rapidly in wealth and popula- 
tion, and soon thousands of plantations in the Southwest were 
white with cotton. For this wonderful growth the planters 
could thank Andrew Jackson, who taught the Indians of the 
section that they must let the white men live in peace ; and 
they could thank Eli Whitney, who gave them the cotton-gin 
(p. 181) and thus made it possible to raise cotton with profit. 
Across the Mississippi. While emif^rants were pouring into 

the Gulf region and into the 
region north of the Ohio, 
there was at the same time 
a stream of population flow- 
ing into the wild country be- 
\ond the Mississippi. Even 
l)efore Louisiana came into 
Dur possession Americans 
were beginning to move 
across the Mississippi, and 
Jefferson was planning to 
have the region explored. 
In 1804 he fitted out an ex- 
pedition to explore the Mis- 
souri River to its head- 
waters and to proceed thence 
'ther by land or by water 
Lu the Pacific Ocean. The 
expedition was in charge of 
Meriwether Lewis and Wil- 
liam Clark. 

Lewis and Clark, with a 
handful of men, left St. 
Louis in May, 1804, and followed the Missouri to its far-off 





Meriwether Lewis 

Born in Virginia, in 1774; 
Tennessee, in 1809. 



died in 



AROUND THE GULF OF MEXICO 



215 



'source in the Bitter Root Mountains. They then traveled by 
land until they came to tlie head-waters of a stream that flowed 
toward the west (map below). Following this stream, they 
reached the mouth of the Columbia River, and saw the waters 
like small mountains rolling out in the sea. They had done what 
many others had tried to do and had failed to do : they had 
reached the Pacific Ocean by traveling westward across the coun- 
try that is now the United States. They returned by a somewhat 
dift'erent route, and reached St. Louis in September, 1806. 

Just before Lewis and Clark returned from their explorations 
of the great Northwest, Zebulon Pike, with a few soldiers, set 
out (August, 1806) from St. Louis to explore the Louisiana 
country toward the southwest. Pike ascended the Missouri 
and Osage into Kansas, and then proceeded south to the Ar- 
kansas, which he followed until he came to Pueblo, Colorado, 
where he gave his name to one of the highest peaks (Pike's 
Peak) of the Rockies. 

The Oregon Country. Trappers and fur-traders followed 
the path made by explorers, and it was not long before Ameri- 
cans were carrying on a fur trade in the far-ofif country called 
Oregon. Here the American trappers met British trappers, 

id the question arose : Who owned 
le Oregon country? The United 
claimed Oregon through 
;ht of discovery ; for as 
^ as 1792 Captain Robert 
Gray of Boston had 
entered the mouth 
of the Columbia 
River in a trading- 
vessel. Jefiferson 
claimed Oregon on 
the ground that it 
was a part of 
the Louisiana Pur- 
chase. Spain claim- 
The Oregon Country ed it on the ground 




2i6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

that she was the original owner of all territory west of 
the Rocky Mountains. Great Britain at this time did not claim 
full possession of the country, but she claimed the right 
to fish in the waters of Oregon and to trade with the Indians ; 
for this right had been granted to her by Spain. In order to 
settle the question, England and the United States in 1818 en- 
tered into a scheme for holding the country in joint possession, 
the agreement being that either country could bring the joint 
occupation to an end by giving the other country a year's no- 
tice. In this manner the Oregon question was settled for a 
time, but only for a time. 

Missouri. Planters, with their slaves, quickly followed the 
fur-traders across the Mississippi and laid the foundation 
for a community which, in 1812, was organized as the Mis- 
souri Territory. Settlers entered Missouri from almost every 
direction. Many came directly across from Illinois and Indi- 
ana, but the greatest rush was from North Carolina and 
Tennessee. Planters from the South took their slaves with 
them. Under such favorable conditions the increase in popu- 
lation was bound to be great. In 1810 the population of Mis- 
souri was 20,000; ten years later it was 70,000. Missouri 
Territory was now ready for Statehood, and accordingly was 
admitted into the Union in 1821.^ Jefferson City was chosen 
as the capital of the State, although the largest town was St. 
Louis, which was the center of a flourishing fur trade. 

Changes of Twenty Years (1800-20). As we follow the 
course of the westward movement described in the last two 
chapters, how wonderful and how great appear the changes that 
took place in our country in the early years of the nineteenth 
century ! How different was the United States of 1820 from 
the United States of 1800! In 1800 the area of our country 
was less than a million of square miles; in 1820 it was nearly 
two millions of square miles. In 1800 our western boundary 
was the Mississippi River, while in 1820 our possessions ex- 

^ The subject of the admission of Missouri gave rise to a great 
debate in Congress, an account of which is given in the next chapter. 



AROUND THE GULF OF MEXICO 217 

tended to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. In 1800 
the population of the United States was 5,000,000; Ijy 1820 
it had nearly doubled. In 1800 our population west of the 
AUeghanies was barely half a million; in 1820 it was nearly 
eight times as great. In 1800 the Union consisted of sixteen 
States; in 1821 it consisted of twenty-four States. In 1800 
there were two States west of the AUeghanies; in 1821 there 
were nine. As State after State was admitted, the Frontier 
Line was, of course, pushed westward. In 1800 this line had 
just reached Cincinnati; by 1820 it had crossed the Mississippi 
and reached points as far west as Jefiferson City, in Missouri, 
and Little Rock, in Arkansas. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the transfer of Louisiana to the United States 
and of its admission into the Union. 

2. Give the early history of Mississippi; of Alabama; of Florida. 

3. What was the purpose of the Lewis and Clark expedition? Tell 
the story of this expedition. 

4. Give the early history of the Oregon country. 

5. Give an account of the settlement and growth of Missouri. 

6. What great changes took place in the United States between 
1800 and 1820? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1643, 1763. 1803, 1812. 

2. Persons : Henry the Navigator. Columbus, Americus Vespucius, 
Roger Williams, Washington, Franklin, Braddock, Wolfe, James Mad- 
ison, Jefferson, W. H. Harrison. 

3. Tell what you can about : The Northwest Territory ; the Louisiana 
Purchase ; the Embargo of 1807. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Westward jMovcment ; Claims 
of Different Nations at Different Times; Indians and Indian Wars; 
Spain in the New World; Discovery and Exploration. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Cotton Culture in the Southwest: Bogart, 198-201. 

(2) The Fur Trade on the Columbia : Schafer, 62-78. 

(3) Lewis and Clark's Expedition: Hart, 206-209. 



XXXII 

AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 

We may now take up the story of national affairs at the point 
where that story was left off; that is, at the close of the administra- 
tion of Madison (p. 203). 

James Monroe. Madison was succeeded in the Presidency 
by his Secretary of State, James Monroe, who was elected 
President in 1816 and reelected in 1820. Monroe was born 
in Virginia and belonged to that group of great Virginians 
who stood so long at the head of national affairs. He was 
not as great a man as Washington or Jefferson or Madison, 
yet he was fitted to make a good President. A more honest 
man never sat in the Presidential chair. " If his soul were 
turned inside out," said Jefferson, " not a blot could be found 
upon it." Besides being thoroughly honest, Monroe was 
skilled in the management of public business. We saw him 
(p. 189) taking a leading part in the purchase of Louisiana. 
During the stormy years of Madison's administration it was 
Monroe who, as Secretary of State, attended to the difficult 
questions that arose between our government and foreign gov- 
ernments. So when Monroe entered (in 1817) upon his duties 
as President he was prepared by experience to take hold of 
affairs with the trained hand of a master. 

Era of Good Feeling-. Monroe found the country in a state 
of peace. Quarreling with foreign countries had come to an 
end, and throughout the United States the people were think- 
ing of industry and commerce rather than of war. Monroe, 
soon after his inauguration, made a tour of the country. He 
traveled through New England and northern New York, and 
pushed west as far as Detroit. Everywhere the people were 
glad to see him. The States, by 1817, were slowly becoming 

218 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 219 

knit into a real nation, and the people beheld in Monroe the 
chief of that nation. " The farmer left the plow in the fur- 
row, the housewife left her clothes in the tub and her cream 
in the churn, and hastened to see," not James Monroe the 
great man, but James 
Monroe the President of 
the United States. So 
broad and generous was 
the spirit that began to 
prevail in Monroe's 
time that even the lines 
that divided men into 
political parties faded 
away. Because the peo- 
ple were united as never 
before, and because 
there was no party strife 
during Monroe's admin- 
istration, the years of his 
Presidency were called 
the ** era of good feel- 
ing." 

Missouri Compro- 
mise. Although the pe- 
riod of Monroe's ad- 
ministration was called 
the " era of good feel- 
ing," there arose during 
his Presidency a subject 
of controversy that 
caused more bad feeling 
than any other question in our history. This was the great 
slavery question. The question came up in 1818, when Mis- 
souri first applied for admission into the Union. The Northern 
members of Congress desired to keep slavery out of all the ter- 
ritory west of the Mississippi, just as it had been kept out of the 
Northwest Territory (p. 174). It will be remembered that by 




James ]\Ionroe 
Born in \'irginia, in 175S; served in the Revo- 
lutionary War; member of tlie X'irginia ratify- 
ing convention in 1788; United States Senator; 
minister to France; Secretary of State, 181 1- 
17; fifth President, 1817-25; died in 1831. 



220 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

1800 slavery in the North was dying out; by 1820 it was prac- 
tically dead. Slave labor in the North was not profitable, and, 
moreover, the freemen of the North were unwilling to work 
side by side with slaves. In the South, by 1820, slavery was 
beginning to be very profitable. In the Gulf States it was be- 
coming the very life of industry, for in these States cotton- 
growing was the chief occupation, and it was thought no labor 
was so good for the cotton-fields as slave labor. So when the 
question of admitting Missouri came up in Congress there was 
a sharp clash : the North wanted it to come in as a free State ; 
the South wanted it to come in as a slave State. 

The Missouri question was debated long and angrily, and it 
seemed as if the debate would never come to an end. At last, 
however, Congress found a way out of the difficulty. ■ It hap- 
pened that just at the time that Missouri was asking for ad- 
mission as a slave State, Maine ^ also was asking admission as 
a free State. Here was a chance for each side to yield a little 
to the other, and a compromise measure was agreed upon. It 
was agreed ( i ) that Maine should come in as a free State ; 
(2) that Missouri should come in as a slave State; but (3) 
that in the future slavery was to be forever prohibited in the 
remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of the parallel of 
latitude 36° 30', the line that is the southern boundary of 
Missouri. 

Such was the famous Missouri Compromise, the measure 
by which Congress (in 1820) attempted to settle the slavery 
question once for all. But the far-sighted men of the tjme 
saw that the slavery question would not be settled by the 
Compromise. Indeed, they saw that the Missouri question 
was only the beginning of a great struggle between the North 
and the South. " You have kindled a fire," said Cobb of 
Georgia, " which all the waters of the ocean cannot put 
out, which seas of blood can only extinguish." " This 
momentous question," said Jefi^erson. " like a fire-bell in the 

^ Maine had belonged to Massachusetts from colonial days (p. 54), 
but in 1819 it was given permission to become a separate State. It was 
admitted in 1820. 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 221 

night, awakened and filled me widi terror. I considered it 
at once as the knell of the Union." 

The Advance of Russia Checked. One of the difficult 
questions with which President Monroe had to deal related 




The Result of the Missouri Compromise 

to the advance of Russia on the western coast of North 
America. In the early years of the nineteenth century Russia, 
already in possession of Alaska, was spreading her power along 
the Pacific coast wherever she could get a foothold. By 181 2 
she had advanced as far south as California, where she built 
a fort. In 1821 the Emperor of Russia laid claim to the shores 
of the Pacific coast as far south as the fifty-first degree of 
latitude. John Ouincy Adams, Monroe's Secretary of State, 
informed the Russian minister that the United States would 
resent this claim, telling him that European powers would no 
longer be allowed to plant colonies either in North America or 
South America. Russia gave heed to these words of warning 
and agreed to make no settlements on the Pacific coast south 
of 54° 40', the United States agreeing in turn to make no set- 



222 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

tlements north of that line. Thus the advance of Russia on 
the coast of the Pacific was checked. 

The Holy Alliance and the South American Republics. 

Besides attending to the Russian problem Monroe was called 
upon to settle another question which had a European back- 
ground. Soon after the downfall of Napoleon (p. 201) the 
ruling monarchs of Russia, Austria and Prussia united (in 
1815) and formed what they called the Holy Alliance. The 
professed purpose of this Alliance was to unite the countries 
of Europe into a Christian brotherhood, but its real purpose 
was to uphold the power of kings and prevent the growth of 
democratic government. It declared that kings received their 
power from God and that the people have no right to rule. 
It waged war upon democracy in the Old World and soon 
threatened a popular movement which was gaining strength 
in the New World. For at this time the people of South 
America were undertaking to govern themselves. In 1808 the 
Spanish colonies began to rebel and to throw ofT the yoke 
of the mother country and by 1822 Chili, Peru, Buenos Aires 
(now the Argentine Republic), Colombia and Venezuela, had 
won their independence and had been recognized by the United 
States as free and independent republics. All of this was 
very displeasing to the Holy Alliance and in 1823 it began to 
look as if its members, especially Russia, Prussia, and Austria, 
would send troops to South America, crush the young re- 
publics, and give them back to Spain. 

The Monroe Doctrine. But President Monroe came for- 
ward to protect the new republics at the South. Before the 
Holy Alliance took any action he sent Congress a message 
which meant precisely what the words of Adams to the Rus- 
sian minister meant. He declared in effect : 

( 1 ) That the United States would not look with favor upon 
the planting of any more European colonies on the continent. 

(2) That the United States would not meddle in the political 
affairs of Europe. 

(3) That the government of Europe must not meddle in 
American affairs. 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 223 

Monroe's words of warning were listened to with respect. 
England gave him her full sympathy and support. At this 
time she was carrying on a thriving trade with South America 
and she feared she would lose this trade if the new republics 
were crushed and given back to Spain to be ruled as colonies. 
The opposition of England and the protest of Monroe caused 
the Holy Alliance to change its plans. The nations of Eu- 
rope did not interfere in the afiFairs of South America and 
the new republics were allowed to enjoy their independ- 
ence. 

The President's message about the South American situa- 
tion became known as the Monroe Doctrine. It received the 
warm approval of the American people and to this day it is 
regarded by Americans as good doctrine. What does it mean ? 
It means that the United States will not allow European 
nations to acquire new possessions on the American continent. 
It means, in brief, America for Americans. 

The Election of John Quincy Adams as President. Five 
candidates came forward in 1824 to succeed Monroe in the 
Presidency. These were Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, 
Henry Clay of Kentucky, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, 
John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, and William Crawford 
of Georgia. Before the election was held, however, Calhoun 
withdrew to become the candidate for Vice-President. When 
the electoral votes in the election of 1824 were counted, Jack- 
son had received 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. 
Nobody had a majority, so the election had to go to the House 
of Representatives. The House, in obedience to the Constitu- 
tion, was compelled to choose from the three highest on the 
list of persons voted for by the electors. It could not, there- 
fore, vote for Clay. Clay was the Speaker of the House at 
the time, and had great influence with its members. If he 
could not himself be chosen, he could at least name the suc- 
cessful candidate. This he did ; he threw his strength to 
Adams, and thus brought about his election. Adams was no 
sooner inaugurated than he made Clay Secretary of State. 
Thereupon the Jackson men raised a cry that a corrupt bargain 



224 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

had been made. Clay, they said, had helped Adams because 
Adams had promised to give Clay the highest place in his 
cabinet. 

But the Jackson men were mistaken. No bargain was made, 
for John Quincy Adams would not stoop to make a bargain. 
He appointed Clay simply because he thought the brilliant 
Kentuckian would make a good Secretary of State. The ap- 
pointment was an act of duty, for Adams never left the path 
of duty. He was so faithful to duty and so strict and honest 
in his actions that he seemed to lean backward in his desire 
to do right. But he was cold and stiff in his manner, and it 
has been said of him that at every step he took he made an 
enemy. Certainly he was as unpopular as any man that ever 
sat in the presidential chair. 

The Tariff Question Comes to the Front. While John 
Quincy Adams was President there came to the front a ques- 
tion which has always occupied a large share of the attention 
of the American people. This was the tariff question. We 
learned that a tariff law was passed in 1789 by the first Con- 
gress (p. 165). In 18 16 another important tariff measure 
was enacted. The Embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 
cut us off from the foreign trade and threw us upon our own 
resources. As a result our manufacturing industries in- 
creased. Soon we were making our own furniture, our own 
boots and shoes, and our own candles. In 1814 Francis Lowell 
placed power-looms in his factory at Waltham, Massachusetts, 
and it was not many years before the mills of New England 
were supplying us with all the cotton goods we needed. After 
the War of 181 2, however, American manufacturers were com- 
pelled to compete with foreign-made goods. English manu- 
facturers rushed into our market with their wares "as if to 
the attack of a fortress." In order to shut out some of these 
foreign goods and protect American manufacturers, Congress 
in 1816 raised the tariff on woolen and cotton goods and on 
carriages, shoes, and paper. It imposed this tariff not so 
much for the sake of revenue as for the sake of protecting 
American manufacturers in the home market. We may re- 



AN ERA OF GOOD FEELING 225 

gard the tariff of 1816, therefore, as the beginning of the 
American poHcy of protection to home manufacturers. 

The tariff of 1816 proved to be disappointing to the manu- 
facturers. In spite of 
the higher duties EngHsh 
goods continued to ilood 
our markets. So Con- 
gress was asked to give 
more protection. It re- 
sponded with the tariff 
of 1824 which increased 
the duties on wool and 
woolen goods, on hemp, 
on pig iron, and on iron 
manufactures. But even 
the tariff of 1824 did not 
give entire satisfaction 
to the manufacturers. 
Accordingly, the tariff' of 
1828 was enacted. This 
law raised the duties 
higher than they had 
ever been and carried the 
protective principle be- 
yond any point it had yet 
reached. The tariff of 
1828 suited the manufac- 
turers of the North, l>ut 
it displeased the South- 
ern people who had no 
manufacturers to be pro- 
tected. The South had only tobacco and rice to sell, and it 
desired to sell these wherever it could get the highest price, 
and it desired to buy manufactured articles in the cheapest 
market, whether that market was at home or abroad. 

So dissatisfied were the people of the South with the tariff 
of 1828 that they called it the "tariff of abominations." In 
Charleston, South Carolina, when the passage of the bill was 




John Quincy Adams 

Born in Massachusetts, in 1767, son of Presi- 
dent John Adams; minister to tiie Netlierlands, 
Prussia, Russia, and England; Secretary of 
State, 1817-25; sixth President, 1825-J9; mem- 
ber of Congress, 1831-48; died in 1848. 



226 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

announced, flags were displayed at half-mast in the harbor, 
and at public meetings the people were urged not to buy the 
manufactures of the North. Thus the tarifif was the cause 
of a second clash between the North and the South ; the 
two sections clashed on the subject of slavery and they clashed 
on the subject of the tariff. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What was the character of James Monroe? In what respects 
was he well-fitted for the Presidency? 

2. Describe Monroe's tour. Why was the period of Monroe's ad- 
ministration known as the "era of good feeling"? 

3. How did the North regard slavery in 1820? How did the South 
regard it in 1820? What was the Missouri Compromise? 

4. Give an account of the advance of Russia on the Pacific coast. 

5. What was the Holy Alliance? What were its purposes? 

6. Tell what you can about the Monroe Doctrine. 

7. Give an account of the election of John Quincy Adams. Describe 
his character. 

8. Sketch the history of the tariff uo to 1828. Why was the tariff 
opposed in the South? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1787 (2), 1803, 1812. 

2. Persons : Balboa, Magellan, De Soto, George Calvert, Daniel 
Boone, Andrew Jackson, W. H. Harrison. 

3. Tell what you can about : Life in the Backwoods ; the Conven- 
tion of 1787; the Ordinance of 1787; the Whisky Insurrection. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Slavery; Foreign Relations since 
1789; the Presidents; their Election and Inauguration; the Tariff; 
Population ; European Background. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Missouri Compromise: Hart, 234-237. 

(2) John Quincy Adams: Brooks, 202-218; Faris, 135-146. 

(3) James Monroe: Brooks, 188-201. 



XXXIII 

THE PEOPLE COME INTO POWER 

For a number of years following the Presidency of John Quincy 
Adams, Andrew Jackson was the chief of American leaders. He 
was not only the nation's President, but he was also the over- 
shadowing figure in public life. He was the idol of the common 
people, and it was from them that he gained his power ; for democ- 
racy was now growing stronger and the people were coming for- 
ward and showing that they were the real masters of government. 

Growth of Democracy. In the Presidential election of 
1824 Andrew Jackson proved to be a strong candidate be- 
cause he relied upon the people for his power. And he did 
well to rely upon them, for they now had much greater in- 
fluence in matters of government than they had ever had be- 
fore. In the early days of the Republic political afifairs were 
conducted by the rich and educated classes. Many of the 
common people, you remember, did not even have the right 
to vote (p. 184). But as the republic grew older, democracy 
gained strength. The poor as well as the rich were allowed 
to vote. 

Especially was this true in the free and rising West, where 
the principles of democracy were always strong. In Ohio 
and Indiana and Illinois every grown man was allowed to vote, 
whether he had any property or not. In the new States of 
the South, also, every grown white man enjoyed the privilege 
of voting. Indeed, by Jackson's time, in almost every State 
in the Union property qualifications for voting had been done 
away with entirely and all grown white men were allowed to 
vote. Democracy was thus becoming a giant. But its growth 
was by no means complete, for in no State had the suffrage 
yet been granted to women. 

Election of Andrew Jackson. Jackson felt that he had 

227 



228 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



not been treated fairly by Clay and Adams in 1825, and bis 
defeat in that year caused him to work harder than ever for 
the Presidency. He at once announced himself as a Presi- 
dential candidate for election in 1828. He resigned his seat 
in the United States Senate, and as a private citizen went be- 
fore the people, asking them for their votes. Jackson under- 
stood men, and he knew 
how to win them to his 
.'ide. Adams was the 
rival candidate, but in a 
race for popular favor 
the cold, dignified Puri- 
tan could hardly hope to 
win against the dashing, 
daring hero of the West. 
When the electoral vote 
was counted, Jackson 
had 178 votes and 
Adams 83. 

Character of Jackcon. 
Jackson was the strong- 
est and most striking 
character of his time. 
The early manhood of 
this remarkable man was 
spent in the backwoods 
of Tennessee. We have 
already met with him as 
the terror of the Indians 
of the Gulf States and 
as the victor at the bat- 
tle of New Orleans. 
Jackson's early education was neglected. He could not spell 
correctly, and he could not write good English. In 1796 he ap- 
peared on the floor of Congress, a tall, lank, uncouth-looking 
personage, with long locks of hair over his face and a queue 
down his back tied in an eelskin. In 1798 he was a member of 




Andrew Jackson 

Born in North Carolina, in 1767; died in 
Tennessee, in 1845. 



THE PEOPLE COME INTO POWER 229 

the Senate, where he came under the cahn eye of Vice-Pre;^i- 
d'ent Jefferson, who wrote of him : " His passions are terrible ; 
he could not speak on account of the rashness of his feelings. 
I have seen him attempt it repeatedly and as often choke with 
rage." 

But Jackson outgrew this roughness and violence of manner. 
By the time he was a candidate for the Presidency he had his 
temper well under control and his manners were those of a 
polished gentleman. His will was so strong that it was terrible. 
When he once determined to do a thing, he hurried on to its 
accomplishment, and nothing could turn him from his pur- 
pose. Friends and foes alike were unable to shake his reso- 
lution, and friends and foes alike were trampled upon when 
they stood as obstacles in his way. 

The Spoils System. On the day of Jackson's inauguration 
(March 4, 1829) it could be seen plainly enough that the peo- 
ple had come into power. \\'ashington was crowded to over- 
flowing with visitors shouting and hurrahing for " Old Hick- 
ory " — the new President's nickname. Most, of these shouters 
were office-seekers asking for the places held by postmasters, 
clerks, custom-house officers, and other officials of the national 
government. Before Jackson's time these officials were al- 
lowed to remain in office as long as they conducted them- 
selves properly and did their work well. But when Jackson 
came into power he dismissed great numbers of these office- 
holders in order to make room for his faithful followers. 
He looked upon the offices as the spoils of political warfare 
and he believed in the maxim, " to the victor belong the 
spoils." 

South Carolina and Nullification. The tariff question, 
which began to give trouble under Adams, grew far more 
troublesome under Jackson. We have seen (p. 225) that the 
people of South Carolina, in their resentment against the tariff 
of 1828, resolved not to buy the goods of Northern manufac- 
turers. Soon their resentment grew still stronger, and it was 
not long before they began to talk of destroying the effect of 
the law entirely by refusing to pay the duties on goods brought 



230 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



into their harbors. Could they rightfully do this? Could a 
State thus disobey a law of Congress? This was the old ques- 
tion of nullification, which came up first in 1799 (p. 180) and 
later in 1814 (p. 201). In 1830 the question came up in the 
Senate of the United States and gave rise to one of the most 
famous debates in our history. 

In this debate Senator Hayne of South Carolina spoke on 
the side of nullification. He contended that when the na- 
tional government passed a law that was contrary to the Con- 
stitution of the United States, the State government had a 
right to step in and prevent the law from going into efifect. He 
also contended that each State should decide for itself whether 
a law was contrary to the Constitution or not, and if a State 
found that a law of Congress was contrary to the Constitution, 
it had the right to disobey that law. Hayne spoke for two 
days and made a speech of great power. 

Senator Hayne was answered by Daniel Webster, Senator 
from ^Massachusetts. Webster had served many years in Con- 
gress, and was famous as 
a statesman and orator. 
His reply to Hayne was 
one of the greatest 
speeches ever made in 
the history of the world. 
He saw danger in the 
doctrine of nullification, 
and he attacked it with 
all the force of his pow- 
erful mind. As he 
spoke, his words seemed 
" to flow in a steady 
stream of molten gold." 
He denied flatly the 
right of a State to dis- 
obey a law of the United 
Daniel Webster States. A law of Con- 

^"•■"at'" ^l^Y^ ^#t"P'''V^^' 1^ 1782; died at gress, he contended, 

Marshfield, Massachusetts, in 1852. & ^ ' 




THE PEOPLE COME INTO POWER 231 

must be obeyed by all the States and by all the people of 
all the States. He denied also that a State had the right 
to judge for itself whether a law was contrary to the Con- 
stitution or not. Only the Supreme Court of the United 
States had the right to decide that a law was contrary to 
the Constitution. " If each State,'' he said, " had the right 
to find judgment on questions in which she is interested, is 
not the whole Union a rope of sand?" And it was in behalf 
of the Union that Webster spoke. lie felt that nullification 
would lead to the breaking up of the Union, and he closed his 
speech with a stirring plea for " liberty and Union, now and 
forever, one and inseparable." 

But the people of South Carolina held firmly to their nullifi- 
cation views. In 1832 Congress passed a tarifif law that was 
even more displeasing to the South than the " tarifif of abomi- 
nations." South Carolina now determined to act. The legis- 
lature of the State called a convention to decide whether or 
not the new tarifif act should be obeyed. The convention met in 
Columbia in November, and declared that the tarifif acts of 
1828 and 1832 were null and void — were without the force 
of law — and that they need not be obeyed by the State or by 
its officers or citizens. The convention went further and de- 
clared that if the government of the United States attempted 
to carry out the tarifif laws within the borders of South Caro- 
lina, that State would withdraw from the Union and would 
have nothing further to do with the United States. In order 
to show that it was in earnest the State armed itself and pre- 
pared for war. 

Jackson promptly informed South Carolina that the laws of 
the United States must be obeyed by the people of all the 
States, and he warned her to beware of the danger into which 
she was running. " If force should be necessary," he said, 
" I will have 40,000 men in the State of South Carolina to put 
down resistance and enforce the law." To a member of Con- 
gress from South Carolina he said : " Please give my compli- 
ments to my friends in your State, and say to them that if a 
single drop of blood be shed there in opposition to the laws 



232 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

of the United States, I will hang the first man I lay my hands 
on engaged in such treasonahle conduct upon the first tree I 
can reach." But no blood was shed. Before any blows were 
actually struck, Henry Clay, always ready to settle quarrels 
by a compromise, came forward in Congress with a tarifif that 
was more favorable to the South. His bill provided that there 
should be a gradual reduction of duties, so that by 1842 there 
would be a uniform duty of twenty per cent, upon all dutiable 
articles, and that no article thereafter should pay a higher duty 
than twenty per cent. The tariff law as amended was passed, 
South Carolina obeyed it, and the nullification movement came 
to an end. 

Jackson and the Bank of the United States. At the time 
Jackson was having so much trouble with South Carolina, his 
first term was drawing to a close. He was growing old and 
feeble and did not really care for a second term. But there 
was one thing he had set his heart upon doing that he had not 
yet done : he desired before he left the Presidency to destroy 
the Bank of the United States (p. 166). This bank had been 
rechartered in 1816 for a period of twenty years. Jackson was 
always its enemy. So great was his hatred of it that he could 
not bear even to hear its name mentioned. He believed it 
was creating a monopoly in money matters, and. like all Ameri- 
cans, he hated monopoly of any kind. In 1832 he refused to 
sign a bill to renew the bank's charter, which was to expire in 
1836. The bank continued its efiforts to secure a new charter. 
Jackson, in order to defeat the plans of the bank, consented to 
be a candidate for reelection. Clay, a strong friend of the 
bank, was nominated for the Presidency in opposition to Jack- 
son. 

The Presidential election of 1832 was remarkable for several 
reasons. It was the first election in which the candidates were 
nominated by great national conventions, as they are now. It 
was also the first election in which the parties set forth their 
principles in platforms, as they do now. Then, too, the candi- 
dates in 1832 were both remarkable men. Clay was a popu- 
ular hero as well as Jackson. He was the idol of Ken- 



THE PEOPLE GOME INTO POWER 



233 



tucky, and a great favor- 
ite in all parts of the 
country. As an orator 
he was second only tq 
Webster. In Congress, 
whether in the House or 
in the Senate, he was al- 
ways the leader. Yet in 
a political fight he was 
no match for " Old Hick- 
ory." When the result 
of the election of i832 
was made known, Jack- 
son had 219 electoral 
votes and Clay 49. 

After this victory at 
the polls, Jackson's war- 
fare upon the bank be- 
came more bitter than 
ever. In 1833 he or- 
dered the collectors of 
United States revenue to 
deposit no more money 
in the bank, and the 
money that was already 
drawn on deposit — 
about $10,000,000 — he 
caused to be drawn out. The bank, of course, fought for its 
life; but its struggle was in vain: it expired with its charter in 
1836. 

Martin Van Buren; the Panic of 1837. When Jackson left 
the Presidency he enjoyed the confidence of the people and 
he had full control of his party. He therefore could easily 
name the man who was to succeed him in the Presidential 
chair, and this he did not hesitate to do. In the election of 
1836 he chose as his candidate for President Martin Van Buren 
of New York, and A'an Buren was elected. 




Born at Kinderhook, New York, in 1782; gov- 
ernor of New York, 1828-29; Secretary of 
State, 1829-31; sent as minister to Great Brit- 
ain in 1831; Vice-President, 1833-37; eightli 
President, 1837-41; died in 1862. 



234 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



At his inauguration (March 4, 1837), Van Buren promised 
the people that he would " tread in the footsteps of his illus- 
trious predecessor." The new President, however, was to learn 
that Jackson had not left him a path of roses in which to tread. 
He had scarcely entered upon his duties when he had to face 
a panic — a period of " hard times." The year 1837 was one 
of great distress throughout the country. Mills and factories 
were shut down, business houses closed their doors, workmen 
were thrown out of employment, and in the larger cities thou- 
sands suffered for want of food. Everywhere money was 
scarce and prices high. 

The Election of 1840. Although Van Buren was not re- 
sponsible for the hard times, the people held him responsible. 
So before the end of his term he found himself a very unpopu- 
lar man. Still, in 1840 the Democrats nominated him for a 
second term. The Whig party — as the party opposed to 
the Democrats was now called — nominated William Henry 
Harrison, the Tippecanoe victor (p. 207), for President, and 
John Tyler of Virginia for Vice-President. Clay desired the 
nomination for the Presidency and was bitterly disappointed . 
when he failed to receive it. 

The campaign of 1840 was noisy and exciting. Harrison 
was a plain man, living in a plain way on a farm in Ohio, and 

an Eastern newspa- 
per suggested that it 
would be better for 
the country if he 
would remain there, 
declaring with a 
sneer that the candi- 
date would be more 
at home " in a log 
cabin, drinking cider 
and skinning coons. 

The l»«o|»lcV i.Inc— Take rarelji'llie Locomotive than living m the 

^^ ^<. „, .0. w.-. w ,- />.Hw,„ .w. .>..,w. ^ White House as 
A Cartoon Used in the Campaign of 1840 President." As vast 




THE PEOPLE COME INTO POWER 235 

numbers of the voters were themselves Hving in log cabins, the 
Whigs could make good use of this sneer, and they did so. 
" Log Cabin and Hard Cider " was taken up as the campaign 
cry. Log cabins were set on wheels and drawn in processions. 
Men wore log-cabin buttons, smoked log-cabin cigars, and sang 
log-cabin songs. The log-cabin candidate became a popular 
hero, and everywhere there was shouting for " Tippecanoe and 
Tyler too." As a result of this enthusiasm Harrison was 
elected by a large majority. Jackson could not save even his 
own State of Tennessee for Van Buren, and Van Buren could 
not s-ave even his own State of New York for himself. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What gains had democracy made by Jackson's time? 

2. Give an account of the Presidential election of 1828. 

3. Describe the character of Jackson. 

4. Explain how and why the " spoils system " was introduced. 

5. What caused South Carolina to begin a nullification movement? 
Give an account of the debate between Hayne and Webster. Describe 
the nullification movement of 1832. What was Jackson's attitude to- 
ward nullification ? 

6. Why did Jackson consent to be a candidate for reelection? In 
what respects was the election of 1832 remarkable? What did Jackson 
do to destroy the Bank of the United States? 

7. Who succeeded Jackson as President? Describe the panic of 

1837. 

8. Tell the story of the exciting election of 1840. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1522, 1664, 1783, 1789, 1820. 

2. Persons : William Penn, Samuel Adams, Hamilton, Monroe, John 
Quincy Adams, Clay, Calhoun. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Louisiana Purchase; the Embargo 
of 1807; the Era of Good Feeling; the Monroe Doctrine. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Presidents: their Election and 
Inauguration; Nullification and Secession; The Tariff; Banks and the 
Currency. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Daniel Webster: Coe, 283-291; Faris, 159-172- 

(2) John Calhoun : Coe, 291-296 ; Chandler, 241-247. 

(3) Henry Clay: Coe, 296-303; Chandler, 225-233. 

(4) Andrew Jackson: Brooks, 231-247. 



XXXIV 

TRANSPORTATION AND WESTERN DEVELOPMENT 

In the last two chapters we followed the course of our political 
history from the beginning of Monroe's administration to the close 
of Van Buren's, that is, from 1817 to 1841 — a period of nearly a 
quarter of a century. While our statesmen during this period 
were struggling with great political problems, business men and 
toilers were working with all their might to develop our wonder- 
ful resources. 

Extension of the National Road. A marked feature of 
our progress between 1820 and 1840 consisted in improving 
the means of communication between the different parts of 
the country. One great improvement was the extension of 
the National Road. We saw (p. 205) that by 18 18 this road 
had reached Wheeling. In 1824 plans were laid for extend- 
ing it still farther westward, and by 1840 it had passed through 
Zanesville and Columbus, in Ohio; through Richmond, In- 
dianapolis, and Terre Haute, in Indiana; and on through 




The National Road 
Illinois as far as Vandalia. This great highway was thus 
carried through the central portions of three large States. 

For many years the National Road played a most important 
part in the life of the Western people. Traffic on the road was 
so heavy that it presented a picture of an almost endless pro- 
cession of moving figures - — coaches, wagons, carts, travelers 
on horseback and on foot, and cattle of every description. 
Families of emigrants in large covered wagons were always 

236 



TRANSPORTATION AND WESTERN DEVELOPMENT 237 

moving westward, while drovers with their cattle were always 
making their way to the markets of the East. So crowded 




Erie Canal, Pennsylvania Canal, and Baltimore and Ohio Railway 

was the highway at times that it resembled a street in a city. 
The Erie Canal; the Pennsylvania Canal, But an event 
of far greater importance than the extension of the National 
Road was the completing and opening of the Erie Canal in 
1825. We learned (p. 206) that the effect of steamboat 
navigation in the West was to build up the trade of the Mis- 
sissippi valley. The Ohio farmer could ship his grain by water 
to New Orleans, and receive a price sufficient to pay the freight 
and still leave a fair profit ; but if he should send it by land over 
the mountains to the Atlantic seaboard, the cost of transporta- 
tion would be more, perhaps, than the grain was worth. So 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




© C. V. Turner. 

The Marriage of the Great Lakes and the Ocean 

it was as natural for the Western trade to find its way to the 
Gulf ports as it was for water to run down hill. But the 
business men of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore saw 
that they would sufifer great loss if the Western trade were al- 
lowed to slip away from them. The National Road, to be 
sure, would save to the East a part of that trade ; but, at the 
best, goods could not be moved as cheaply on roads as on rivers. 
The people of the seaboard, therefore, began to look to arti- 
ficial rivers, that is, canals, as a means of securing the Western 
trade. 

Canal-building on a large scale began in 1817, when De 
Witt Clinton, Governor of New York, turned the first spadeful 
of earth on the Erie Canal, which was to* extend from Bufifalo 
to Albany and to connect Lake Erie with the Hudson River. 
The work of digging the " great ditch " was carried forward 
in earnest, and in 1825 the canal was completed and thrown 
open to the public. 

The opening of the canal was celebrated in a manner worthy 
of so great an event. On the 26th of October a fleet of gaily 
decorated boats left Bufifalo and moved slowly eastward along 
the canal, " saluted by music, musketry, and the cheers of the 



TRANSPORTATION AND WESTERN DEVELOPMENT 239 

crowds along the bank." On the morning of the 4th of No- 
vember the procession of boats reached New York. A flask 
of water from Lake Erie was poured into New York Bay 
by Governor CHnton, and the waters of the Great Lakes were 
declared to be united forever in marriage with the waters of 
the ocean. 

Before the Erie Canal was built it cost $100 to carry a ton 
of goods from Buffalo to New York ; the canal reduced the 
cost to less than $20. The cheap freight rates caused trade 
to flow in great volume toward the canal. Within a year after 
its opening the canal bore on its quiet waters many thousands 
of boats and rafts laden with lumber, grain, furs, and merchan- 
dise of all kinds. Villages and towns sprang up along the line 
of the canal from one end to the other. Western New York 
indeed " blossomed as the rose." Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, 
and Buffalo rapidly developed into flourishing cities. But 
the greatest thing done by the Erie Canal was to build up the 
trade of New York City and make it the commercial center of 
the United States and of the Western Hemisphere. 

The Erie Canal was hardly finished before the State of 
Pennsylvania also began to construct a system of canals from 
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. It was necessary to do this if 
Philadelphia was to hold her Western trade. In 1826 work 
on the Pennsylvania Canal was begun, and nine years later 
one could travel by a horse-railway from Philadelphia to the 
town of Columbia, on the Susquehanna ; thence by a canal along 
the Susquehanna and Juniata to Hollidaysburg ; thence over 
the mountains by a portage railway to Johnstown ; and thence 
by canal to Pittsburgh. 

Railroads. It was necessary also for Baltimore to have 
an easy route to the West ; but the men of this city looked to 
the railroad rather than to the canal as a means of communi- 
cation. On the Fourth of July, 1828, the venerable Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, who fifty-two years before had signed 
the Declaration of Independence, laid the corner-stone of a 
railroad that was to connect Baltimore and the Ohio River. 
At first the cars on the railroad were drawn by horses, but in 














Progress in Travel and Transportation 



TRANSPORTATION AND WESTERN DEVELOPMENT 241 

1830 a steam-locomotive, invented by Peter Cooper, was put 
upon the tracks for a trial trip between Baltimore and Ellicott 
Mills. The distance was thirteen miles. The trip was made 
in an hour and twelve minutes. On the same day on which 
the trial trip was made, the locomotive had a race with a horse 
drawing a car running on a parallel track. The locomotive 
at first kept the lead, but an accident happened to the ma- 
chine, and in the end the horse won the race. Still, the trial 
trip of Cooper's locomotive was in the main successful, and 
marked the beginning of the great Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road, which by 1853 had climbed over the mountains to Wheel- 
ing and had saved to Baltimore her Western trade. 

Michigan. Besides building up western New York, the 
Erie Canal was also a powerful factor in the development of 
the country bordering on the Great Lakes. Its influence spread 
rapidly across northern Ohio and was soon felt in the Michigan 
country. 

In 1805 the lower peninsula of Michigan was cut ofif from 
Indiana Territory and organized as Michigan Territory, with 
William Hull (p. 198) as the first Governor and Detroit as 
the first capital. But it was a wild and desolate country that 
Hull went out to govern. The great forests of Michigan were 
still as unbroken and untrodden as when, two hundred years 
before, they were explored by the followers of Champlain. 
The only inhabitants were the Indians and a few Frenchmen. 
The only settlements were Detroit. Mackinaw, and French- 
town. The chief occupation of the region was fur-trading. 

In 1818 the steamboat JValk-iu-thc-JVatcr appeared at De- 
troit, and the next year advanced to Mackinaw, where the sav- 
ages were made to believe that the strange-looking vessel 
was drawn by a team of trained sturgeon. The appearance 
of the steamboat on the Great Lakes was followed in 1825 
by the opening of the Erie Canal. A new era now dawned 
upon Michigan. Throngs of emigrants from New York and 
New England soon began to make their way to the shores of 
the upper lakes. The Michigan country now filled up rapidly 
with people, and in 1837 Michigan was admitted as a State. 



242 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Removal of the Indians; Arkansas. The rapid develop- 
ment in the country around the Great Lakes between 1820 and 
1840 was matched by a development equally rapid in the South 




Picking Cotton 

and Southwest. The cotton kingdom was greatly enlarged 
by the removal of the Indians from the South. When the red 
men of the South had been subdued by Jackson (p. 212), they 
had for the most part been pllowed to remain on their lands. 
In 1820 more than 50,000 Indians — Creeks, Cherokees, Chick- 
asaws, Choctaws, and others — were living in Georgia, Ala- 
bama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and were occupying up- 
ward of 30,000,000 acres of land. Much of this was the best 
land in the South, and the white man, of course, longed to 
become its possessor. By a series of treaties with the. national 
government, the Indians consented to surrender their lands 
east of the Mississippi to the United States, and to receive in 
return grants of land west of the Mississippi, in the country 
known as the " Indian Territory." In accordance with these 
treaties the Indians were gradually removed across the Mis- 
sissippi, and by 1840 but few of them were left in their old 
homes in the South. The vacant Indian lands were filled up 
by planters with their slaves and given over to the cultivation 
of cotton. 



TRANSPORTATION AND WESTERN DEVELOPMENT 243 

The cotton kingdom was still further enlarged by the ad- 
mission of Arkansas, which was organized as a Territory in 
1819. The new Territory received an overflow of popula- 
tion from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, and its growth 
was rapid. Its soil was adapted to the raising of cotton, and 
slaves were employed in the cultivation of its fields. In 1835 
Arkansas Territory had a population sufficient for Statehood, 
and the next year it was admitted into the Union. 

Western Development between 1820 and 1840. During 
this period our population nearly doubled, increasing from 
9,638,000 in 1820 to 17,169,000 in 1840. The increase was 
greatest in the West, where the development of the country 
continued at a remarkable rate. By 1840 the Ohio valley 
was almost an empire in itself. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois 
had a combined population of nearly three millions, while 
Kentucky and Tennessee together could count more than a 
million and a half. Ohio ranked third in population, and 
was almost as populous as Pennsylvania, while Tennessee 
ranked fourth and was more populous than Massachusetts. 
As the Western country filled up with people the area of settle- 
ment was extended and the Frontier Line, of course, was car- 
ried westward. In 1820 this line ran pretty close to the ]\Iis- 
sissippi River; by 1840 it had moved as far west as the Great 
Northern bend of the Missouri. (See the colored map oppo- 
site page 259.) 

The Center of Population. The rapidity of this western 
development is shown by the rate at which the center of popu- 
lation was moving toward the West. In 1800 the center of 
population was about eighteen miles west of Baltimore. This 




J-^-N/^. 



Center of Population 



244 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

point in its westward movement followed closely the thirty- 
ninth parallel. In 1810 the center of population had moved 
to a point forty miles west of Washington. By 1840 it had 
crossed the Alleghanies, and in i860 it was half-way across the 
State of Ohio. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give the history of the National Road between 1820 and 1840. 

2. Why did the Eastern States need canal communication with the 
West? Tell the story of the Erie Canal. What were some of the 
effects of this canal? Why was the Pennsylvania Canal built? What 
was the route of this canal? 

3. Give the early history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 

4. What was the early history of Michigan? 

5. Tell the story of the removal of the Indians ; of the growth and 
admission of Arkansas. 

6. Give an account of Western development between 1820 and 1840. 
Describe the Frontier Line in 1840. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1689, 1820, 1825. 

2. Persons : Cabot, Drake, Raleigh, Edmund Andros, Monroe, John 
Quincy Adams, Clay, Calhoun, Van Buren, Webster. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Invincible Armada; Bacon's Re- 
bellion; the Stamp Act; the Era of Good Feeling; the Monroe Doc- 
trine ; the Spoils System. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Means of Communication; The 
Westward Movement ; Indians and Indian Wars ; Slavery ; English 
Colonization ; Commerce. 

5. Reading References : 

( 1 ) The Erie Canal : Brigham, 40-53. 

(2) The National Road: Brigham, 86-98. 

(3) The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: Brigham, 98-110. 

(4) Canals: Bogart, 208-212. 

(5) Steamboats and Railroads: Eggleston, 277-280; Coe, 
225-241. 

(6) Peter Cooper : Faris, 173-184. 



XXXV 

CARRYING THE FLAG TO THE PACIFIC 

By 1840 much of the best land east of the Mississippi had been 
taken, and pioneers had begun to push out into the unoccupied 
lands of the far West. This pressure of population westward and 
this hunger for new land resulted, between 1840 and 1850, in carry- 
ing our flag to the Pacific and in adding more than a million of 
square miles of territory to our national domain. The chief aim 
of this chapter will be to give an account of this enormous west- 
ward extension. 

Death of Harrison: John Tyler Becomes President. We 

learned (p. 234) that in 1840, after an exciting campaign, 
William Henry Harrison was elected President. Harrison 
was inaugurated March 4, 1841 ; but precisely one month after 
his inauguration he died. John Tyler, the Vice-President, now 
became President. Tyler had been elected by the Whigs, but 
he was a Democrat at heart. He had left the Democrats 
chiefly because he hated Jackson. He loved Clay and wanted 
to see him elected President, and when Harrison was nomin- 
ated instead of Clay, Tyler is said to have burst into tears. 

^^'hen Tyler became President he turned his back upon the 
\Miigs and acted in a way to suit the Democrats. Congress, 
under the leadership of Clay, passed a bill' to reestablish the 
Bank of the United States, but Tyler was strongly opposed to 
such a bank and vetoed the bill. Congress passed a second bank 
bill similar to the first, and again Tyler used the veto. Then 
all the members of Tyler's cabinet except Webster, who was 
Secretary of State, resigned. Webster remained in the cabinet 
in order to settle with England the question of the true bound- 
ary line between Maine and Canada. The boundary line was 
fixed in 1842 by an agreement known as the Webster-Ash- 
burton treaty. 

245 



246 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Tyler, after the resignation of his cabinet, found himself 
alone. He had lost the powerful support of Clay ; Congress 
was against him ; and he had no party on his side, for the 
Whigs felt that he had basely deserted them and the Democrats 
did not trust him. 

Annexation of Texas. Although Tyler was without a 
party, he was nevertheless a very active President. It was he 
who brought about the annexation of Texas. In 1836 Texas, 
then one of the States of Mexico, declared its independence 
of the mother country, and under the leadership of Sam Hous- 
ton, an American, defeated the Mexican army at San Jacinto. 
The Texans had no sooner gained their independence than they 

applied for admission 
into the I'nion. Their 
desire to be a part of 
the United States was 
natural enough, for 
most of them were 
Americans. Of the 
sixty signers of the 
Texas declaration of in- 
dependence fifty-three 
were citizens of the 
United States. Tyler 
was strongly in favor 
of admitting Texas. 
He arranged a treaty of 
annexation, but the 
Senate rejected the 
treaty. 

In 1844 the Demo- 
crats nominated James 
K. Polk of Tennessee 

,,,.,,. .T TT • for President, and de- 

Wilham Henry Harrison 

clared squarely for the 

Born in N'irginia, in 1773; delegate to Congress; _ 

governor of Indiana Territory; member of annexation of TcxaS 

Congress and of the Senate; mmister to 

Colombia; ninth President; died at Washington, ^j^(J {qj- ^\^^^ OCCUpatlOU 

D. C, April 4, 1841- ^ 




CARRYING THE FLAG TO THE PACIFIC 



247 



of Oregon. The Whigs nominated Clay and kept silent on the 
Texas question. The Democratic cry in the campaign was, 
** The Northwest and the Southwest," which meant that, if Polk 
won, both the Oregon country and Texas would be added to 
the Union. Polk was elected, and Tyler, feeling sure that the 
people of the country were in favor of annexing Texas, urged 
Congress to annex it at once. Congress took the matter up, 
and three days before Tyler went out of office a joint resolution 
annexing Texas to the 
United States passed 
(March i, 1845) i" 
both houses. The terms 
of the resolution were 
accepted by the Texans 
with an outburst of joy, 
and a State seven times 
as large as England was 
added to our Union. 
By the annexation of 
Texas the area of the 
cotton kingdom was 
greatly enlarged and 
the institution of slave- 
ry was greatly strength- 
ened. 

The Oregon Coun- 
try. Polk had prom- 
ised that the Oregon 
country as well as 
Texas should be 
brought into the Union. 
As soon as he took his 
seat, therefore, he be- 
gan to push the claims 
of the United States to 
the vast region lying 




Born in Virginia, in 1790; governor of X'irginia, 
1825-27; member of the Senate, 1827-36; elected 
Vice-President, 1840; succeeded as tenth Presi- 
dent upon the death of Harrison ; member of 
Confederate provisional congress; died in 1862, 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



between the crest of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific and 
extending from the forty-second parallel of north latitude to the 
parallel of 54° 40' north (map, p. 215). This was territory 
which was still being held in joint occupation by England and 
the United States (p. 216). The joint occupation was brought 
to an end by Polk -in 1846, when he claimed Oregon as be- 
longing wholly to the United States.- England yielded to the 
claim and withdrew, leaving the United States in possession. 
In the treaty, however, tha.t gave us Oregon it was agreed 
that England should have the possession of that part of 
the country lying north of the forty-ninth parallel. The 

territory acquired by 
this Oregon treaty 
was about as large 
as Texas. It included 
what are now the 
States of Oregon, 
Washington, Idaho, 
and parts of Wyoming 
and Alontana — in all 
about 280,000 square 
miles. 

War with Mexico. 
But Polk's heart was 
set upon acquiring Cal- 
ifornia as well as Ore- 
gon. California at this 
time really belonged to 
Mexico, but the Mexi- 
can government was so 
weak that it could 
nether control nor de- 
fend the distant prov- 
ince. This part of the 
James K. Polk Pacific coast was. 

Born in North Carolina, in i-QS; studied law; therefore, CXpOScd tO 
member of Congress; governor ot I ennessee, ^ 

1839-41; eleventh President, 1845-49; died in j-J-jg attack of forcio^n 
Tennessee in 1849. *= 




CARRYING THE FLAG TO THE PACIFIC 



249 




r^a 200 



THE M.-N. WORKS 



Scene of the War with Mexico 

powers, and Polk feared that if California was not seized 
by the Americans it would be seized by England or by France. 
Before California was acquired the Mexican War began. 
There was a dispute between Mexico and our government 
as to the rightful boundaries of Texas. Mexico claimed the 
land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Texas 
also claimed this land, and when it became one of the States 
of our Union its claims were, of course, defended by the gov- 
ernment of the United States. Polk did not wish to wage 
war against. Mexico if he could help it, so he tried to arrange 
for a treaty that would make war unnecessary. But Mexico 
preferred to fight. Mexican troops were sent into the dis- 



250 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

puted territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces, where 
American troops had already been stationed. In April, 1846, 
the two armies met, fighting began, and war was declared. 

Polk desired a short war and one in which there would be 
little shedding of blood. He went into the conflict with the 
sword in one hand and the olive-branch of peace in the other. 
General Winfield Scott (p. 200) was at the time the command- 
ing general of the army, but Zachary Taylor — old " Rough 
and Ready," as he was called — was at first given command in 
Mexico. In September, 1846, Taylor moved an army of 7000 
men against Monterey, which was defended by a garrison of 
10,000 soldiers. After three days of sharp fighting, Monterey 
surrendered. 

General Scott himself now appeared upon the scene of war 
with plans for the capture of Vera Cruz and the City of Mex- 
ico, and in order to strengthen' himself for the expedition he 
withdrew from Taylor a large body of experienced officers and 
troops. In February, 1847, Taylor, with a greatly reduced 
army, was compelled to meet the Mexican General Santa 
Anna at Buena Vista, where was fought the greatest battle of 
the war. The Mexicans greatly outnumbered the Americans, 
but through the excellent generalship of Taylor the Americans 
won the victory. 

On March 9, 1847, General Scott began to land his army of 
12,000 men at Vera Cruz, and on March 29 the city had sur- 
rendered. Scott now pushed on to the City of Mexico. He 
defeated the Mexicans at the pass of Cerro Gordo, and ad- 
vanced to Puebla, where, in accordance with the policy of 
Polk, he offered to the Mexicans the " olive-branch of peace." 
The Mexicans refused the offer of peace and rallied their 
forces for the further defense of their country. But it was 
of no use. Scott marched on to victory after victory. On 
September 8 he took Molino del Rey ; on September 13 he 
carried by storm Chapultepec, a strong fortress that over- 
looked the City of Mexico; and on September 14 he entered 
the capital with his army and raised the American flag. 

Conquest of New Mexico and California; Treaty of Gua- 



CARRYING THE FLAG TO THE PACIFIC 



251 



TABLE 

SHOWING THE 

TERRITORIAL GROWTH 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

Square Miles 
Original area ... 827,844 
Louisiana Purchase 875,025 

Florida 70,107 

Texas 389.795 

Oregon Country.. 
Mexican Cession.. 523,802 
Gadsden Purchase. 36,211 

Alaska 599,446 

Total ....... .3.610,919 




The Westward Extension 

dalupe Hidalgo. With the capture of the City of Mexico the 
Mexican War practically was brought to a close. California, 
the great prize of the war, had been taken almost before the 
war had actually begun. As early as June, 1846, Colonel 
Stephen Kearny left Fort Leavenworth and marched to Santa 
Fe. After capturing Santa Fe and taking possession of all 
New Mexico, he marched on to California. Upon arriving 
there, however, he found that American settlers had already 
declared California to be an independent republic and that the 
country had already been won for the Americans by Lieu- 
tenant John C. Fremont, who was in command of a small body 
of soldiers, and by Commodore Stockton, who was hovering 
off the Pacific coast with a fleet. The conquest had been made 
without a struggle. " We simply marched," said one of Fre- 



252 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

mont's soldiers, " all over California from Sonoma to San 
Diego, and raised the American flag without opposition or pro- 
test. We tried to find an enemy, but we could not." 

A treaty of peace between the United States and Mexico was 
arranged in February, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a village 
near the City of Mexico. By the terms of the treaty, the dis- 
puted Texas territory. New Mexico, and California were 
ceded to the United States, and in return our government gave 
Mexico $15,000,000, precisely the sum paid for Louisiana. 

Thus during the administrations of Tyler and Polk we ex- 
tended our territory to the Pacific Ocean and acquired pos- 
session of what is now Texas, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, 
Utah, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts 
of Wyoming, Montana, and Oklahoma. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. By what political party was Tyler elected? In what way did he 
forsake his party? 

2. Tell the story of the annexation of Texas. 

3. Under what circumstances did we acquire the Oregon country? 

4. Give an account of the beginning of the Mexican War. Describe 
the military operations of Tyler ; of Scott. In what way did we gain 
possession of New Mexico and California? 

5. What were the terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1803. 1812, 1820, 1825. 

2. Persons : John Adams, Eli Whitney, James Madison, Monroe, 
John Quincy Adams, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Van Buren. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Tories ; the Alien and Sedition Laws ; 
the Era of Good Feeling; the Monroe Doctrine; the Spoils System. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Presidents: their Election and 
Inauguration; Wars since 1789; Treaties; Foreign Relations since 1789; 
Expansion since 1789; Claims of Different Nations at Different Times. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Sam Houston: Chandler, 208-217; Faris, 201-215. 

(2) Zachary Taylor: Chandler, 217-225. 

(3) Kit Carson : The Westward Movement, 163-172. 

(4) The Mexican War : Eggleston, 282-293. 
(s) The First American Government on the Pacific : Schafer, 
157-172. 

(6) The Oregon Boundary: Schafer, 173-186. 



XXXVI 

WESTWARD HO! 

While statesmen and generals during the administrations of 
Tyler and Polk were extending our borders to the Pacific, pioneers 
were making new settlements in the West and building up new 
States. Between 1840 and 1850 the population of the country 
beyond the Mississippi increased more than 2,000,000, while eight 
communities arose out of the wilderness and were organized either 
as States or Territories. No wonder that the watchword of the 
times was Westward ho ! 

Cheap Lands. The remarkable development in the West 
in the Forties was due in part to the Preemption Law passed 
by Congress in 1841. This law reduced the price of public 
lands from $2 an acre (p. 204) to $1.25 an acre, and provided 
that after the settler had resided on his land for six months and 
had made certain improvements upon it he could secure a full 
title to it. The Preemption Law thus encouraged Western 
development by offering settlers land at an extremely low 
price and on very favorable terms. 

Immigration and Its European Background. The 
growth of the West was also greatly assisted by immigration. 
For in the Forties the immigration that had flowed so long 
in a gentle stream suddenly became a flood. Before 1840 
foreigners who came to America every year were counted 
by the tens of thousands ; after that date they were counted 
by the hundreds of thousands. In the fifty-five years before 
1845 the number of immigrants that landed on our shores 
was smaller than the number that came in the last five years 
of the Forties. In one year (1850) more than 300,000 for- 
eigners came to our country and made it their home. 

For the background of this immigration we must look to 

253 



254 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Europe. In Ireland in 1845 ^"^ also in 1846 there was an 
almost complete failure of the potato crop. Since the po- 
tato was the chief food of the Irish people hardships and 
distress followed. Hundreds of thousands died of starva- 
tion. Panic stricken at the fear of hunger great throngs 
sought relief in flight. In 1847 more than ioo,cx)0 Irishmen 
found their way to America. In Germany, too, the condi- 
tions at this time were favorable to emigration. For the 
German people were discontented and many of them were in a 
state of revolt against the tyranny of their rulers. As lovers 
of liberty their eyes turned to America and they poured into 
the New World in great streams. Thousands of them went 
straight to the West and helped to build up new States and 
Territories. 

Along the Upper Mississippi and around the Great Lakes. 
In no part of the West did the upbuilding of new communi- 
ties between 1840 and 1850 proceed faster than along the 
banks of the Upper Mississippi and along the shores of the 
Great Lakes. In this region, within the space of a few years, 
there emerged from a howling wilderness two great States 
— Iowa and Wisconsin. 

The Iowa country was the first to be opened up. In 1832 
the national Government bought from the Indians about 6.000.- 
000 acres of land lying west of the Mississippi and north of 
the Des Moines. As soon as the Indians were out of the 
way the settlement of the wild country began in earnest. In 
1838 Iowa was made a Territory. The rush to Iowa was 
now greater than ever. Ferries were busy day and night 
carrying pioneers across the Mississippi, and steamboats on 
the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Missouri were packed with 
passengers for Iowa. The result was that by 1846 Iowa Ter- 
ritory had a population sufficient for statehood, and in that 
year Iowa was admitted into the Union. 

While Iowa was rising on the prairies Wisconsin was ris- 
ing out of the forests. You remember that after the Erie 
Canal was finished fp. 241) settlers in great numbers rushed 
to the Michigan country. Thousands of these moved on to 



WESTWARD HO! 



255 




Along the Upper Mississippi and Around the Great Lakes 

the western shore of Lake Michigan and settled in the Wis- 
consin country. In 1835 the first houses of Milwaukee were 
built, and the next year streets were laid out for a town which 
is now the beautiful city of Madison. In 1846 Wisconsin was 
created a Territory and two years later it was made a State. 

Along the Pacific Coast. The tide of emigrants in the 
Forties flowed far beyond the shores of the Great Lakes, far 
beyond the banks of the Mississippi. Thousands of pioneers 
did not end their westward journey until the Pacific coast 
was reached. So the story of the Westward Movement in the 
Forties carries us to the Oregon country and to California. 

Even before Oregon came into our possession (p. 248) 
streams of emigrants had begun to pour into the country. 
As early as 1843 the American settlers in the Williamette 
Valley met in a barn in Champoeg and drew up for them- 
selves a plan of government which satisfied their needs for 
several years. But when it was determined in 1846 that 
Oregon was to belong to the United States the settlers asked 



256 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



J^^TTI^^^Aa^j $./, 7^"^ 



y 



Jxr^^^ju-lh^^ ^^^TlA^ft^L 



^^^£Uf 



Congress for a regular territorial government. To this re- 
quest Congress was slow to respond, for there was trouble 
over the slavery question, the northern members of Congress 
being in favor of keeping slavery out of Oregon. After a 
long struggle a bill was passed (in 1848) making Oregon 
a Territory but declaring that slavery should not be allowed 
in the new Territory. 

From Oregon we turn to California. Nine days before the 
signing of the treaty that gave California to the United States 
(p. 252) a man named Marshall found at Coloma, a settlement 
in the Sacramento valley, a piece of metal which proved to 
be gold, and in a few weeks it was discovered that gold was 
abundant throughout the whole valley. The news of Mar- 
shall's discovery spread like forest fire. By September the 
tidings reached the Atlantic seaboard, and by the beginning 

of 1849 it was 
known all over 
the civilized world 
that in California 
there were fields 
of gold that could 
be worked by 
anybody who 

could buy a min- 
er's outfit — a 
pick, a shovel, 
and a tin pan. 
So there was a 
wild dash for the 
gold-fields. Men 
of all ages and 
of all classes — 
clergymen, pro- 
fessors, doctors, 
lawyers, farmers, 
traders, thieves, 
gamblers — start- 






"^>. 



- / 

The First Record of the Discovery of Gold in 
California 
An entry in the diary of one of the laborers 



WESTWARD HO! 



257 




The Santa Fe and Oregon Trails 



ed for the far-off coast of the Pacific. They traveled on foot, 
on horseback, in wagons, in carts, by rail, by boat. 

The gold-hunters from the seaboard States could reach Cali- 
fornia either by water or by an overland route. If they went 
by water they could either sail around Cape Horn, a distance 
of seven thousand miles, or they could cross the vuihealthful 
Isthmus of Panama and reembark on the Pacific side. Those 
who went by the overland route made their way to Independ- 
ence (near Kansas City), Missouri. This frontier town was 
the starting-point of a journey of more than two thousand 
miles across waterless plains and over steep and rocky 
mountains. From Independence emigrant trains could go by 
the Sante Fe Trail, or they could follow the Oregon Trail 



258 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



to the Humboldt River, where by turning to the southwest 
they could make their way to the western slope of the Sierras 
and move down into the Sacramento valley, the Promised 
Land of gold. 

Whether he went by the Santa Fe Trail or by the Oregon 
Trail, the emigrant was almost sure to meet with great suffer- 
ing and hardship. On the plains water was hard to get and 
many perished of thirst. When crossing streams, wagons 
were sometimes swallowed up by quicksand. On the rough 
paths in the mountains, vehicles were often overturned and 
their occupants injured or killed. The buffalo was extremely 
troublesome. " One night," wrote one of the early emigrants 

to California, " when 

we were encamped 

^ on the South Fork 

' ^?'^. ^ of the Platte, the 

buffaloes came in 
such droves that we 
had to sit up and 
fire guns and make 
what fuss we could 
to keep them from 
running over us and 
trampling us into the 
dust." 
But, in spite of danger and suffering, men hurried on to the 
gold-fields. By the end of 1849 about 80,000 " forty-niners " 
had poured into California. San Francisco in a few months 
was changed from a hamlet to a city. As yet Congress had 
given the new Territory no form of government, and for a 
time " law was wanting, justice was defeated, and villainy was 
rampant." But the Californians were now mostly Americans 
who loved law and order and who were going to have law 
and order. Without waiting for Congress to act, the lead- 
ing men took matters in hand and acted for themselves. In 
September, 1849, they called a constitutional convention, and 
by the middle of October California had a constitution. The 




A Bit of Rough Road 



i 




The dsLta of admission of SI 

the Union, between 1821 and 1840, 

is marked under name of State 

9 100 JOQ 600 

English Statute Miles 



THE UNITED STATES IN 1840 




THE UNITED STATES IN 1850 



WESTWARD HO! 



259 



constitution was submitted to Congress, and in 1850 Cali- 
fornia was admitted as a State. So California was never a 
Territory. The magic touch of gold had changed it almost 
instantly from a sleepy Mexican province into a wide-awake 
American State. 

Utah: New Mexico. At the same time that Congress was 
making a law for the government of California it was called 
upon to provide governments for Utah and New Mexico, 
for it was during the Westward Movement of the Forties 
that the foundations of these two States were laid. The found- 
ations of Utah were laid by the Mormons, who were organized 
as a religious society in 1831 by Joseph Smith. The first home 
of the Mormons was in western New York, but they soon 
moved to Kirkland, Ohio, and afterward to Independence, 
in Missouri. In 1838 they were driven out of Missouri, and 

a new home was 
found at Nauvoo, in 
Illinois. Here they 
got into trouble, and 
in 1847 their leader, 
Joseph Smith, was 
killed. Under their 
new leader, Brigham 
Young, they set out 
for a new home in 
the far West. In a 
thousand covered 
wagons they left Ill- 
Salt Lake City in 1848 inois and, after a 
long and toilsome journey across the plains, came at last to a 
valley in what is now the northern part of the State of Utah. 
Here they found a permanent resting-place. The region in 
which they settled had a fertile soil, but it could be made pro- 
ductive only by irrigation. So the Mormons dug ditches to 
carry the water from the mountains down into the valley, and 
in a few years their valley was producing all kinds of grains and 
fruits. They gave to each family a certain portion of land to 




26o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

cultivate, and managed affairs in such a way that every one 
who worked had a share in the profits of the community. The 
Mormon settlement prospered, and in 1850 Utah Territory was 
organized, with Salt Lake City as its capital, and Brigham- 
Young as its Governor. 

On the same day that Utah was made a Territory a ter- 
ritorial government was given to New Mexico. When this 
province came into our possession (p. 252) its population 
was about 50.000. Many of the people of New Mexico, there- 
fore, felt that their province was entitled to statehood and there 
was an attempt to bring New Mexico into the United States 
at once. But the attempt failed and New Mexico had to re- 
main a Territory for more than sixty years. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What was the Preemption Law? 

2. Give an account of immigration in the Forties. What was the 
European background of this immigration? 

3. Tell the story of the settlement of the country along the Upper 
Mississippi and around the Great Lakes. 

4. Give an account of the settlement of Oregon after it came into 
our possession. Tell the story of the growth of California just after 
the war with Mexico. 

5. Give the early history of LItah and New Mexico. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1607, 1781, 1783. 1825, 1846. 

2. Persons : John Smith, James Oglethorpe, Marquette, La Salle, 
Lafayette, George Rogers Clark, Cornwallis, W. H. Harrison, Van 
Buren, Tyler, Polk, Taylor. 

3. Tell what you can about : The Pennsylvania Dutch ; the Scotch- 
Irish; the Era of Good Feeling; the Monroe Doctrine; the Spoils Sys- 
tem. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: European Background; The West- 
ward Movement ; Means of Communication ; Steps Leading to the 
Formation of the Union ; Claims of Different Countries at Different 
Times. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Portland, the Rose City: Hotchkiss, 18-33. 
(2) " The Plains Across " : The Westward Movement, 103- 
118. 



XXXVII 



PROGRESS IN THE FORTIES 



In the last chapter we learned how pioneers in the Forties pushed 
out into the western country and hrought it under the control of 
the white man. But while these wonderful things were going on 
in the West, great progress was being made in all parts of the 
country in social and industrial matters. 

The Iron Plow; the Reaper. We saw that at the "beginning 
of the nineteenth century agriculture was still in a backward 
state (p; i8o). But by 1840 it was moving forward at a rapid 
pace. Its progress was due to the improvements that were 
being made in the implements used by farmers. About 1825 
Jethro Wood, of Scipio, New York, invented an iron plow 
whose parts were so fastened together that when one piece 
wore out or was broken it could be easily replaced by another. 
Iron plows now came into general use, and by 1840 the half- 
wooden, half-iron plow of the olden time was seldom seen. 

But more wonderful than the iron plow was the reaper 
invented by Cyrus McCormick, of Virginia. McCormick saw 
that American farmers were raising more wheat than could 
be cut with the old-fashioned scythe, so he set to work to in- 
vent a machine that would cut grain. For many long years 
he toiled at his task ; but at last he was successful, and by the 
year 1840 he was making reapers that farmers were glad to 
buy, for one of his reaping-machines would cut as much wheat 
as could be cut by six men with scythes. 

Progress in Manufacturing: the Sewing- Machine. While 
agriculture in the Forties was making such great progress, 
manufacturing was moving forward at an equally rapid rate. 
We learned that by 1800 the influence of the Industrial Revolu- 
tion (p, 183) was beginning to be felt in the United States and 

261 



X 



Cnj^-i rr 



1 ; 








■ 


/•■7 




L 





Th; First Plow 



An Ancient Egyptian Plow 




A Plow of the Middle Ages 




Jetliro Wood's Plow 




Plowing by Steam 

The Plow in All Ages 



PROGRESS IN THE FORTIES 263 

that the factory had made its appearance. Thanks to the 
War of 1812 and to the effects of the protective tariff, Ameri- 
can manufactures were stimulated in a wonderful manner, 
with the result that factories multiplied and the little shops 
of earlier days gradually passed away. By 1840 the old 
household system of industry (p. 74) was practically gone 
and the factory system had taken its place. In the cities of 
the Eastern States there were great factories in which hun- 
dreds of thousands of men, women, and children were em- 
ployed. More than' half of the factory workers were women 
and children, and in many a factory little children under 
twelve years worked long hours every day for a weekly 
wage of $1.50. In the factories were made vast quantities of 
cotton and woolen goods. The weaving-machines invented 
in the latter part of the eighteenth century (p. 183) had been 
greatly improved and were turning out more cloth than human 
fingers could sew with the old-time needle. So, in order to 
keep pace with the looms, inventors undertook to make a 
machine that would sew. In 1846 Elias Howe of Massachu- 
setts came forward with such a machine ; he invented a sewing- 
machine that would sew at the rate of 250 stitches a minute. 
This was about seven times as many as could be made in the 
same time by hand. 

The Electric Telegraph. In the Forties railroads were in- 
creasing in numbers. In the management of trains the rail- 
road men found it desirable that messages should be sent very 
quickly from one place to another. Professor S. F. B. Morse, 
of New York, gave them what they needed. As early as 1837 
Morse had invented a machine which he called the telegraph, 
and which he claimed would send a message a hundred miles 
in less than the twinkling of an eye. But Morse, like most in- 
ventors, was a poor man, and he could not at once put the 
telegraph into operatfon. He had great faith, however, in 
the merits of his invention, and after a long and patient struggle 
secured the aid of Congress in establishing a telegraph line 
between Baltimore and Washington. The first message was 
sent over the line in 1844. 





Reaping with a Sickle 



A Scythe 




Reaping with a Scythe and Cradle 



McCormick's First Reaper 




The Combined Harvester and Thresher 

The Reaper in All Ages 



PROGRESS IN THE FORTIES 265 

Progress in Education. But it was not only material prog- 
ress we were making in the Forties. Men were now giving 
attention to higher things. Especially were they making 
progress in matters of education. About 1837 Horace Mann 
began to draw the attention of the people of New England 
to the importance of education. Mann loved learning with 
all his heart, and loved it for itself. When a boy he had so 
much respect and veneration for a book that he would, he said, 
as soon stick a pin into his own flesh as into the pages of a 
book. This great educational leader went up and down in 
Massachusetts, and in the other States of New England, urging 
the people to spend more money on their schools, to employ 
better trained teachers, and to build better school-houses. 
Mann's efforts were successful, and before many years had 
passed, there was a well organized system of free schools in 
every New England State. 

In other sections of the country, also, free schools were 
being established. The common-school system of Pennsyl- 
vania was established by law in 1834, and that of New York 
in 1849. In the West free education flourished from the begin- 
ning. You will remember that in the Ordinance of 1787 it 
was provided that in the government of the Northwest Terri- 
tory education was to be encouraged (p. 174). This was 
faithfully carried out. In the upbuilding of the West, public 
education was almost the first thing to receive attention. In 
the year 1816 the people of Indiana, in their constitution, 
provided that " it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, 
as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law for 
a general system of education, ascending in regular grada- 
tion from township schools to a State University, wherein 
tuition shall be gratis (free) and equally open to all." Con- 
sider what these words meant for the young people of Indiana 
in future years. They meant that every boy and girl in the 
State was to have a chance to go to college. The law-makers 
of Indiana carried out the provisions of the constitution, and 
in due time the State had a complete free-school system extend- 
ing .from a primary school to the university. And what was 



266 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

done for free education in Indiana was done practically in 
almost every State west of the Alleghany Mountains. 

It was good Americanism that led our statesmen and teach- 
ers at this time to lay broad and deep the foundations of a 
public-school system. They knew that if America was to pros- 
per and become great, and that if democracy was to live, citi- 
ens must be educated and enlightened. And it is good Ameri- 
canism to-day for citizens to support and defend the public 
schools and to try to improve them. For they are one of our 
greatest blessings. Our nation could not survive without 
them. " We must educate," said Daniel Webster, " or we 
must perish." 

Progress in Literature. Along with the education of the 
masses there was a greater demand for good reading, and to 
meet this demand there came to the front at least a dozen 
writers of whom any country might well be proud. These 
writers were Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, 
William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel 
Hawthorne, William Oilman Simms, Henry Wadsworth Long- 
fellow, John Oreenleaf Whittier, Edgar Allan Poe, Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and James Russell 
Lowell. These authors began to write their books early in 
the nineteenth century, and in the Forties they were giving 

A Group of American Prose-Writers 

William Gilmore Simms. Washington Irving. 

Born at Charleston, South Carolina, in Historian, essayist, and novelist. Au- 

1806; died there in 1870. He wrote thor of " History of New York by 

many novels, largely on Southern life, Diedrich Knickerbocker," " The Sketch- 

and many of them of the colonial and Book," etc. Born at New York, in 

Revolutionary periods. 1783; died at Sunnyside, near Tarry- 
town, New York, in 1859. 

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. 
Born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in i8n; died at Hartford, in 1896. Her most 
famous novel, " Uncle Tom's Cabin," was first published in the Washington National 
Era, 1851-52, and in book form in 1852. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne. James Fenimore Cooper. 

Author of " Twice-told Tales," " The Author of many novels, most of them of 

House of the Seven Gables," " Tangle- Indian life or .\merican history, includ- 

wood Tales," " The Marble Farm," etc. ing " The Spy," " The Deerslayer," etc. 

Born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804; Born at Burlington, New Jersey, in 

died in New Hampshire, in 1864. 1789; died at Cooperstown, New York, 

in 1851. 



268 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

delight to millions of their countrymen and bringing honor to 
American literature. 

l,,^ocial Betterment. During the Thirties and Forties people 
were greatly interested in reforms, the purpose of which was 
to improve social conditions and make the world a better 
place in which to live. Many men and women were work- 
ing for the cause of temperance. Kind-hearted reformers 
were trying to secure proper treatment for the insane and 
urging lawmakers to abolish imprisonment for debt. Women 
were asking that the right to vote be granted to them. In 
1848 a woman's suffrage convention, under the leadership of 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was held at Seneca Falls, New York. 
Workingmen were forming labor unions with the view of 
improving the conditions of the laboring classes. These 
unions were a direct outgrowth of the factory system. Now 
that the workingmen were no longer working for themselves 
but for others they found that if they were to get a fair wage 
and good hours they must unite. 

The Abolition Movement. But the reform movement that 
received the most attention in the Forties was the one which 
had for its aim the complete abolition of slavery. The great 
leader of the abolition movement was William Lloyd Garrison. 
In 183 1 this remarkable man published the first number of 
his famous newspaper, The Liberator. In his paper Garrison 
said : " I shall strenuously contend for the immediate en- 
franchisement of our slave population. I will be as harsh 
as truth and as uncompromising as justice. I do not wish to 



A Group of American Poets 

Edgar Allan Poe. William Cullen Eryant. 

Poet and writer of tales. Author of Poet and journalist. Author of " Than- 
" The Raven," " The Gold Bug," etc. atopsis," etc. Born at Cvimmington, 
Born at Boston, in 1809; died at Bal- Massachusetts, in 1794; died in 1878. 
timore, in 1849. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

Author of " Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie," "The Song of Hiawatha," etc. Born 

in Maine, in 1807; died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1882. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. John Greenleaf Whittier. 

Poet, essayist, and novelist. Author of Author of " Snow-Bound," " Poems of 

" Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," Nature," etc. Born at Haverhill, Mas- 

" The One-Hoss Shay," etc. Born in sachusetts, in 1807; member of the So- 

Massachusetts, in 1809; died in 1894. ciety of Friends; died in 1892. 



270 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

think, or speak, or write with moderation. I am in earnest. 
I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard." 

And truly Garrison was heard. His newspaper had a wide 
circulation, and it gave great strength to the abolition move- 
ment. For a long time the abolitionists stood for a despised 
cause. Even in the North the leading men were against them. 
Sometimes they could not get a hall in which to hold their 
meetings and were obliged to meet secretly in stable-lofts. 
Frequently their meetings were broken up. Garrison himself 
was mobbed and dragged through the streets of Boston with 
a rope around his body. Still the abolition movement grew 
rapidly. In 1835 there were in the North 200 abolition 
societies; in 1840 there were 2,000 of these societies. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of the iron plow and the reaper. 

2. What progress was made in the Forties in manufacturing? Tell 
of the invention of the sewing-machine. 

3. Tell the story of the electric telegraph. 

4. What progress was being made in education in the Forties? 

5. Name the great writers of this period. 

6. What efforts were being made at this time to improve the con- 
dition of the people? 

7. Give an account of the abolition movement. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1787 (2) 1812, 1825, 1846. 

2. Persons : Champlain, Hudson, Jackson, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Web- 
ster. 

3. Tell what you can about: The Patroons; the Northwest Terri- 
tory; the Louisiana Purchase. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Americanism; Great Inventions; 
European Background ; Progress in Education ; Slavery ; Wars Since 
1789; Foreign Relations since 1789; Agriculture; Manufacturing. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Story of the Reaper: Forman, 85-96. 

(2) The Story of the Plow : Forman, 73-84. 

(3) The Story of the Telegraph: Forman, 252-263. 

(4) Horace Mann : Brooks, 320-335. 

(5) S. F. B. Morse: Brooks, 305-320; Paris, 185-200, 

(6) The Story of the Needle: Forman, 125-137. 

(7) Cyrus McCormick: Paris, 254-265.. 



XXXVIII 

FACE TO FACE WITH THE SLAVERY QUESTION 

We have just learned that in the Forties the abolitionists were 
carrying on a bitter warfare against slavery, and that the move- 
ment for abolition was gaining strength. In 1850 the people of 
the country were brought face to face with the slavery question, 
and for many years thereafter this great question held the chief 
place in their hearts and minds. We ought, therefore, at this 
point to study the institution of slavery as it existed in the. United 
States about 1850, and to learn of the effort that was made to solve 
the slavery problem at that time. 

Election of 1848; Taylor and Fillmore. In 1848 it was 
plainly foreseen that the slavery question must soon arise ; 
yet in the Presidential campaign of that year neither of 
the great parties said a word about the subject. The Whigs 
said nothing about anything; they made no platform. They 
nominated General Zachary Taylor of Louisiana for President 
and Millard Fillmore of New York for Vice-President. The 
Democrats made a long platform, but it was silent on the 
subject of slavery. They nominated for President Lewis 
Cass of Michigan. The Free-Soil party, made up of those 
Whigs and Democrats who were opposed to slavery, held a 
convention at Bufifalo and nominated ex-President Van Buren 
for the Presidency. The Free-Soilers in their platform came 
out against slavery in the strongest terms. Congress, they 
said, has no more right to make a slave than it has to make a 
king ; there must be a free soil for a free people ; there must 
be no more slave States and no more slave Territories. Taylor 
was not a great statesman, but in the Mexican War he had 
shown himself to be a good fighting man, and for that reason 
he was a favorite with the people. The Whigs won the elec- 
tion, and Taylor was inaugurated as President in March, 

271 



272 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



1849. On July 4, 1850, he suddenly fell ill, and in a few 
days died. He was succeeded by Vice-President Fillmore. 
Slavery in the United States in 1850. At the beginning 

of Taylor's administra- 
tion the great question 
before the country was 
slavery. In order to un- 
derstand this question as 
it presented itself to the 
statesmen of the time, it 
will be necessary to learn 
the leading facts about 
slavery as it existed in 
the United States in 
1850. 

Before the admission 
of California (1850) 
there were fifteen free 
States and fifteen slave 
States. The slave States 
were Delaware, Mary- 
land, Mrginia, North 
Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Florida, 
Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Texas, Ar- 
kansas, Missouri, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee. 
The population of the 
free States was about 
13,000,000; that of the 
slave States was about 9,000,000. The number of slaves was 
a little more than 3,000,000. The number of slaveholders was 
a little less than 350,000. In the slave States about one person 
in twenty was a slaveholder. But the majority of slaveholders 
owned only a few slaves each — one or two or three or four. 
These small slaveholders lived for the most part in Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In these 




Zacliary Taylor 

Born in X'irginia, m 1784; served in the War 
of 1 812, and in the wars against the Black 
Hawks and the Seminoles; commanded in 
northern Mexico during the Mexican War; 
became twelfth President in 1849; died at 
Washington, in 1850. 



FACE TO FACE WITH THE SLAVERY QUESTION 273 

States slavery was largely a household arrangement. The 
slave of the small slaveholder worked in the house, in the 
garden, and on the small farm. Sometimes he worked in the 
field by the side of his master. His service was largely per- 
sonal, and there was a real human bond between him and his 
master. But there were 8000 slaveholders in the South who 
owned fifty or more slaves each. On many of the largest 
plantations there were several hundred slaves. President 
Taylor himself had more than a thousand slaves on his planta- 
tion in Louisiana. The large slaveholders lived for the most 
part in the cotton States. On the large cotton plantations 
slavery was often simply a business arrangement. The slave 
was placed by his master under the charge of an overseer, 
whose duty was to get as much work out of the slave as 
possible in order that the plantation might yield as great a 
profit as possible. 

Under what conditions did the slave live ? How were they 
treated by their masters? As a rule, slaves were properly 
fed, clothed, and sheltered. It was to the interest of their 
masters that they should be. In 1850 a good slave was worth 
from $1000 to $1500, and a prudent master would no more 
starve or unduly expose a slave than he would starve or un- 
duly expose an extremely valuable horse. Even on the great 
cotton plantations, where the life of the slave was the hardest, 
the negroes usually were provided with fairly comfortable 
homes. 

The treatment received by a slave depended upon the kind of 
man his master was. The kind-hearted master treated his 
slaves as human beings ought to be treated. Yet there were a 
few hard-hearted masters who treated their slaves in a very 
cruel and brutal manner. But almost everywhere in the South 
public sentiment was against the brutal treatment of slaves, and 
the cruel master was looked down upon and shunned by his 
neighbors. 

In matters of education the slave fared badly. xAs a rule, 
he was kept in the darkest ignorance. In most of the slave 
States it was unlawful for anybody to teach a negro to read or 



274 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



write. In several States, however, it was lawful for masters 
themselves to instruct their slaves, and kind masters sometimes 
would teach their negroes the rudiments of reading and writ- 
ing. In matters of religion the slaves were not neglected. 
They were given oral instruction in the Bible, had their negro 
preachers, and joined heartily in religious exercises. 

In the early days of the Republic many people of the South 
thought that slavery was wrong. Washington, Jefiferson, and 
Madison were all slaveholders, yet they were all opposed to 
slavery. By 1850, however, most of the white people of the 
South had come to believe that slavery was a good thing. 
They believed that the teachings of the Bible upheld slavery ; 
they contended that it was better for the negro to be a civilized 
slave on a cotton plantation than to be a savage in the jungles 
of Africa ; they said that the black slave at the South, who had 
all his wants supplied by his master, was happier and more con- 
tented than the white mill-hand of the North, who was de- 
pendent upon his wages for his daily bread and who sometimes 
lacked the necessities of life. 







mm 

Negro Quarters on a Plantation 



FACE TO FACE WITH THE SLAVERY QUESTION 275 

Slavery and the Abolitionists. In the North by 1850 many 
thousands of thoughtful people regarded slavery as a great 
evil. This feeling against slavery had been aroused by the abo- 
litionists, v^ho, as we have learned (p. 268), wished to get rid of 
slavery, root and branch, cost what it might, sufifer who might. 

Abolitionists did two things that were very displeasing to the 
South. They sent into the South, through the mails, news- 
• papers, pamphlets, and 
books intended to stir up a 
feeling against slavery and 
that were likely to cause the 
slaves to revolt against their 
masters. Then, the aboli- 
tionists assisted in the escape 
of fugitive slaves. Slaves, 
in the hope of gaining their 
freedom, would often slip 
away from their masters and 
make their way North, hid- 
ing in the woods in the day- 
time and following the north 
star at night. When the 
fugitive reached Pennsyl- 
vania or Ohio he was often 
met by officers of the " un- 
derground railroad," which 
was not a railroad at all, but 
a secret organization composed mainly of abolitionists, whose 
purpose it was to aid runaway slaves to reach Canada, where 
everybody was free. If a master could find his runaway slave 
anywhere in the United States, he could by law seize the fugi- 
tive and take him back home, but if the runaway could get 
his foot on Canadian soil he was safe. 

When taken in charge by the underground railroad the 
fugitives were passed along in a secret manner from place to 
place. " Forty-seven slaves," said one of the conductors of 
the underground railroad, " I guided toward the north star. I 




Henry Clay 



Born in Virginia, in 1777; member of Sen- 
ate; Speaker^ of the House of Rep- 
resentatives; Secretary of State; chief de- 
signer of Compromise of 1850; died in 
185-'. 



276 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



piloted them through the frosty North mostly by night ; men 
dressed in women's clothes, and women dressed in men's 
clothes ; on foot and on horseback, in carriages, under loads 
of hay." In one instance a runaway was nailed up in a box 
and shipped as freight. Through the assistance of this un- 
derground railroad the slaveholders of the South were, by 
1850, losing hundreds of their slaves and millions of dollars 
every year. 

Compromise of 1850. At the beginning of Taylor's ad- 
ministration, then, the South and the North were already con- 
siderably excited over the subject of slavery. When Congress 
met in 1849, the question of admitting California (p. 000) 
came up, and at once gave rise to a bitter quarrel between the 
two sections. The quarrel had really begun several years 
before. In 1846, when a bill was on its passage through Con- 
gress giving money to Polk to aid him in acquiring New Mexico 

and California, David Wilmot, a 
member of the House, ofifered an 
amendment to the bill providing 
that slavery should be forever pro- 
hibited in the territory that might 
be acquired from Mexico. This 
amendment, known as the Wilmot 
Proviso, caused more trouble, per- 
haps, than any other measure ever 
proposed by an American states- 
man, for it awakened the question 
that since the days of the Missouri 
Compromise (p. 219) had been al- 
lowed to slumber — the question of 
the extension of slavery. The pro- 
viso was defeated in 1846, but it 
came up before Congress again and 
again. 

It came up in 1849, when California applied for admis- 
sion, and there came up with it several other important ques- 
tions connected with slavery. Should California come in as a 




John C. Calhoun 

Born in South Carolina, in 
1782; graduated at Yale; mem- 
ber of Congress; Secretary of 
War; Vice-President, 1825-32; 
member of the Senate; Secre- 
tary of State; author of the 
"doctrine of nullification "; died 
in 1850. 



FACE TO FACE WITH THE SLAVERY QUESTION 



277 



free State or as a slave 
State? If. it should 
come in as a free State 
there would be sixteen 
free States and fifteen 
slave States, the bal- 
ance of power between 
North and South would 
be destroyed, and the 
North would have its 
own way about slavery. 
Should slavery be al- 
lowed in the Territo- 
ries of New Mexico 
and Utah ? The South 
asked that these Terri- 
tories be thrown open 
to slavery. Should 
slavery be prohibited in 
the District of Colum- 
bia? The North de- 
sired that it should be ; 
the Sou'h desired that 
it should not be. 
Should Congress enact 
a fugitive-slave law 
that would enable a 
master to retake his 
runaway slave in spite of the abolitionists and the underground 
railroad ? The South asked for such a law. 

These were important questions before Congress in 1849 
and 1850. They gave rise to a great debate in which Clay, 
Calhoun, and Webster were the leaders. Clay, as was to be 
expected, treated the questions in a spirit of compromise. 
" Let me say," he said, " to the North and to the South what 
husband and wife say to each other: we have mutual faults; 
neither of us is perfect; nothing in the form of humanity is 




Millard Fillmore 

Born at Sumner Hill, New York, in 1800; 
studied law; member of Congress; elected Vice- 
President, 1848; succeeded as thirteenth Presi- 
dent (1850-53) upon the death of President 
Taylor; unsuccessful candidate for the Presi- 
dency in 1856; died in 1874. 



278 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

perfect. Let us then be kind to each other, forbearing, for- 
giving each other's faults, and, above all, let us live in happi- 
ness and peace together." In this spirit of good will and 
friendliness Clay asked Congress to adopt a plan of settlement 
that would satisfy both North and South. His plan was : 
(i) To admit California as a free State. 

(2) To give New Mexico and Utah Territorial govern- 
ment, without making provision one way or the other as to 
slavery. 

(3) To prohibit the slave trade in the District of Columbia, 
but not slavery. 

(4) To enact a fugitive-slave law strict enough to enable a 
master to capture a runaway slave. 

Calhoun, the leader of the South, was present in the Senate 
during the debate, wrapped in flannels and battling with death. 
He was too weak to deliver his speech, but it was read for him 
by a fellow Senator. He was opposed to Clay's plan. He 
did not believe that under the Constitution Congress had any 
right to keep slavery out of California or any other Territory 
belonging to the United States, and he would not have the 
South give up any right that was hers under the Constitution. 

Webster, in one of the greatest speeches of his life, sup- 
ported Clay's plan. He believed that the Union was in danger, 
and he thought that it could be saved only by a compromise. 
" I wish to speak to-day," he said, " not as a Massachusetts 
man, not as a Northern man, but as an American. I speak 
to-day for the preservation of the Union." Other leaders 
rallied to the support of Clay's plan, and (in October, 1850) 
it was passed by Congress in the form of a series of laws 
known as the Compromise of 1850. It was sometimes called 
the Omnibus Bill because it included so many subjects. 

The Fugitive-Slave Law of 1850. Everybody now hoped 
that the slavery question was settled and that the North and 
the South would again move along in peace and harmony. 
But it soon became plain that there was more trouble ahead. 
The new Fugitive-Slave Law was very severe. It gave the 
officers of the United States government the power to turn over 



FACE TO FACE WITH THE SLAVERY QUESTION 279 

any negro who was claimed as an escaped slave to the person 
claiming him, and did not allow the negro to give testimony in 
his own behalf. The law also made it the duty of citizens to 
assist in the capture of runaway slaves. The law was very 
ofifensive to the people of the North, and in many places it 
was fiercely resisted. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the Presidential election of 1848. 

2. What was the number of slaves in 1850? Of slaveholders? How 
did household slavery differ from plantation slavery? How were the 
slaves treated by their masters? How did the slave fare in respect to 
education? In respect to religion? What were the views of the 
Southern people in regard to slavery? In what two ways did the 
abolitionists displease the South? 

3. What was the Wilmot Proviso? What great questions came up 
before Congress in 1850? What was Clay's plan of compromise? 
Give an account of the debate in Congress on Clay's plan. 

4. What were the provisions of the Fugitive-Slave Law of 1850? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1620. 1763, 1781, 1825. 

2. Persons : John Winthrop, Washington, Franklin, Braddock, 
Wolfe, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Garrison. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Line of Demarcation ; the Pilgrims ; 
the Puritans; the Convention of 1787; the Ordinance of 1787; the 
Whisky Insurrection ; the Declaration of Independence. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Slavery; The Presidents: their Elec- 
tions and Inaugurations ; The French in North America. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Garrison on Slavery: McLaughlin, 200-206. 

(2) Calhoun on Slavery: McLaughlin, 207-212. 

(3) Slave Life in the Fifties: McLaughlin, 217-228. 

(4) The Early Life of Daniel Webster: A New Nation, 

138-147. 

(5) My Escape from Slavery: A New Nation. 181-185. 

(6) Women in the Slavery Struggle: Bruce, 156-187. 



XXXIX 

SHALL SLAVE TERRITORY BE EXTENDED? 

It was hoped that the Compromise of 1850 would settle the 
slavery question. But it did not. Some of our statesmen still 
wished the area of slave territory to be extended, while enemies 
of slavery bitterly opposed such extension. The question of 
slavery extension gave rise to a long and hard-fought political 
battle, an account of which will now be given. 

Election of 1852. In the Presidential campaign^ of 1852 
both the Whigs and the Democrats declared in their platforms 
that they stood by the Compromise of 1850. The Whigs nom- 
inated General Winfield Scott, hoping that his war record 
(p. 250) would carry them into power. The Democrats nom- 
inated Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, and swept the 
country, carrying every State but four. When Pierce took his 
seat in March, 1853, he was forty-eight years old and was the 
youngest man that had as yet sat in the Presidential chair. 
He was brave, handsome, and well educated, and he had the 
best wishes of his countrymen in all sections of the Union. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill. For a time after the election 
of Pierce it seemed that the slavery question really had been 
settled. The spirit of compromise, which in Congress had 
brought forth the Omnibus Bill, became in large measure the 
spirit of men everywhere. The people of the North ceased 
to resist the Fugitive-Slave Law ; the underground railroad 

1 During this campaign Harriet Beecher Stowe's " Uncle Tom's 
Cabin " appeared in book form. This was a powerfully written story 
describing slave life. It was a book of fiction, to be sure, but it was 
received at the North as if it had been a book of facts. It sold by 
the hundreds of thousands, and it did much to stir up feelings over 
the slave question and to widen the gulf between the North and the 
South. 

280 



SHALL SLAVE TERRITORY BE EXTENDED? 



carried very few passengers ; politics and slavery were almost 
forgotten, and a second "era of good feeling" (p. 219) 
seemed at hand. 

But the question of slavery could not be kept down. In 
1854 Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois brought into the Senate a 
bill to organize the Nebraskan Territory — a region that com- 
prised what are now the States of Kansas, Nebraska, North 
Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and parts of Wyoming 
and Colorado. All this 
country was north of 
the parallel of 36° 30', 
and by the terms of the 
Missouri Compromise 
(p. 220) was closed 
against slavery. But 
Douglas proposed to 
throw it open to slave- 
ry and thus do away 
with the Alissouri Com- 
promise. His bill — 
known as the Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill — in its 
final form provided for 
two Territories, Kan- 
sas and Nebraska. The 
question of slavery in 
the new Territories was 
to be settled by what 
Douglas called popular 
or " squatter '' sover- 
eignty: the people of 
each Territory were to 
vote on the question of 
slavery; if the major- 
ity of votes were cast in favor of slavery, it was to be a slave 
Territory, but if the majority of votes were cast against 
slaverv, then it was to be a free Territory. "If they wish 




Iranklin Pierce 

Dorn in New Hampshire, in 1804; member of 
Congress, ^^33-37; United States .Senator, 
1837-42; general in the Mexican War; four- 
teenth President, 1853-57; died in 1869. 



282 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



skvery," said Douglas, " they have a right to it." The bill was 
violently opposed in Congress; but Douglas was a powerful 
leader and, next to Henry Clay, was the most popular man 
that had yet appeared in American politics. He pushed his 
bill with whip and spur, and in May, 1854, it was passed by 
Congress and signed by the President. So the Kansas-Ne- 
braska Bill repealed the Missouri Compromise and threw these 
Territories open to slavery. 

All the good done by the Compromise of 1850 was undone 
by the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. The North felt that in repeal- 
ing the Missouri Compromise the South had violated a solemn 
pledge, and the resentment against the bill in the North was 
very bitter. But the South was as much delighted by the 
measure as the North was embittered by it. For under the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill it was possible to carry slavery into the 
vast Northwest. So the. effect of the. Kansas-Nebraska Bill 
was to stir men deeply both at the North and at the South on 
the subject of slavery. After 1854 every man in the land had 
to answer this question : Are you for slavery or are you 
against slavery? 

The Struggle in Kansas. The first blows in the slavery 




Scene of the Struggle in Kansas 

conflict were struck in Kansas. By the terms of the Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill the question of slavery in Kansas was to be 



SHALL SLAVE TERRITORY BE EXTENDED? 283 

determined by the votes of the people. The election that was 
held to determine this question gave rise to a contest which 
split Kansas into two warring factions, the free-State men 
and the slave-State men. In 1855 the free-State men drew 
up at Topeka a constitution that prohibited slavery; but the 
slave-State men would have nothing whatever to do with the 
Topeka constitution. 

The quarrel between the two factions soon resulted in vio- 
lence and outrage. In May, 1856, the town of Lawrence was 
sacked by a mob of slave-State men. In revenge, John Brown, 
with four sons and three other men, went along Pottawatomie 
Creek at midnight and killed five slave-State men. 

In 1857 the slave-State men drew up at Lecompton a con- 
stitution that allowed slavery ; but when the constitution was 
submitted to the voters it was rejected by them. By this time 
the free-State people were in the majority, and their majority 
was rapidly increasing. In 1859 a constitutional convention 
met at Wyandotte and drew up a constitution forbidding 
■slavery ; and when this was submitted to the people it was 
ratified by a vote of two to one. So, after a long and bloody 
struggle, it was at last settled that slavery should not be al- 
lowed in Kansas. 

Election of 1856; the Rise of the Republican Party. 
While men were discussing the troubles in Kansas they were 
also preparing for a Presidential election. The Whig party 
had perished in 1852 with the defeat of Scott. By 1856 a 
new party was coming to the front. In 1854, just after the 
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, several thousand citizens 
of Michigan met in an oak-grove on the outskirts of the town of 
Jackson and resolved to act together in opposition to slavery. 
They also resolved to be known as Republicans until the fight 
with slavery should be brought to an end. They recom- 
mended that a national convention of the free States be called, 
and nominated candidates for the State offices. This open-air 
meeting under the oaks at Jackson was the beginning of the 
great organization known to-day as the Republican party. 

The Republicans met with success in several States in 1854 



284 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

and 1855, and by 1856 they had a strong organization. In 
that year they held a national convention at Philadelphia and 
adopted a platform declaring against the spread of slavery in 
the Territories and for the admission of Kansas as a free 
State. They nominated for President John C. Fremont (p. 
251 of California. The Democrats nominated James Buch- 
anan of Pennsylvania and elected him. 

The Dred Scott Decision. Buchanan was inaugurated on 
the 4th of March, 1857. Two days later the Supreme Court 
of the United States pronounced its decision in the Dred Scott 
case. Scott was a slave who had been taken by his master first 
to Illinois, where slavery was prohibited by the Ordinance of 
1787; then to Minnesota Territory, where slavery was pro- 
hibited by the Missouri Compromise ; and then to Missouri, a 
slave State. After several years' residence in ^lissouri, Scott 
brought suit in court for his freedom, on the ground that his 
residence in free Illinois and free Minnesota had made him a 
free man. His case was tried by several courts, and finally 
the Supreme Court of the United States decided that, since 
Scott was a negro whose ancestors were slaves, he was not a 
citizen of Missouri, and that because he was not a citizen he 
had no right to bring a case into court. The court also de- 
clared that the Missouri Compromise was contrary to the Con- 
stitution and that Congress had no right to prevent the spread 
of slavery into the Territories. So vScott failed to get his 
freedom, and slave holders were assured that if they wished to 
carry their slaves into the Territories Congress could not pre- 
vent them. 

The decision made the people of the North very angry, 
for it cut the very ground from under the feet of those who 
were fighting against the extension of slavery. In the South, 
on the other hand, the people rejoiced when they heard that 
the highest court in the land was on their side and on the side 
of slavery. 

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The excitement aroused by 
the Dred Scott decision in 1857 was intensified in the following 
year by the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Stephen A. Douglas in 



SHALL SLAVE TERRITORY BE EXTENDED? 



285 



1858 was a candidate for reelection to the United States Senate, 
and Abraham Lincohi was his opponent In the campaign for 
the Senatorship Lincohi and Douglas spoke in joint debate 
from the same platform, 
Lincoln taking the side 
against the further ex- 
tension of slavery, and 
Douglas defending his 
doctrine of " popular 
sovereignty." The de- 
bates attracted the atten- 
tion of the entire coun- 
try, and the meetings 
were attended by thou- 
sands. Douglas won the 
Senatorship, but in the 
debates Lincoln showed 
himself to be a man of 
such great power that 
the people of the North 
began to look to him as 
the natural leader of the 
forces that were opposed 
to slavery. 

John Brown's Raid. 
After the Dred Scott de- 
cision the quarrel be- 
tween the North and the 
South over slavery was 
bitter enough ; but it was 
soon made more bitter by 
an event that is known as John Brown's Raid. In 1859 John 
Brown, the same man whom we saw engaged in the Kansas 
struggle, rented a farm-Iioiise about six miles north of Harper's 
Ferry, in Virginia. Here he planned to march into Virginia 
with a few followers and stir up the negroes and cause them to 
rebel against their masters and thus gain their freedom. On 




James Buchanan 

Born in Pennsylvania, in 1791; member of 
Congress; minister to Russia ; United States 
Senator; Secretary of State; minister to Great 
Britain; fifteenth President, 1857-61; died in 
1868. 



286 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the nig-ht of October 17, 1859, Brown left the farm-house with 
about twenty companions, went to Harper's Ferry, and seized 
the arsenal there and took possession of the village. After 
Brown had held the village for a few hours, he and his band 
were surrounded by a small force of soldiers under Colonel 
Robert E. Lee and were captured and taken to the county jail. 
He was tried for treason and murder, and convicted, and on 
December 2 was hanged. 

Election of 1860. The discord and disunion produced by 
the slavery agitation showed themselves plainly in the Presi- 
dential election of i860, when there were four candidates in 
^.;. — -— -. y^y^a^ the field. The Dem- 

[^ V - - . ■ I ocratic party in 

[ N that year found it- 

self split in two. 
The Democrats of 
the South, not be- 
ing able to agree 
with Northern 
Democrats on the 
slavery question, 
nominated a ticket 
of their own and 
made their own platform. Their candidate for President was 
John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky. Their platform declared 
(i) that Congress had no right to abolish slavery in the Terri- 
tories, and (2) that a Territorial legislature had no right to 
abolish slavery in a Territory. The Northern Democrats nomi- 
nated Stephen A. Douglas and declared for " popular sover- 
eignty " (p. 281) in the matter of slavery. At Chicago the 
Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois on a plat- 
form that (i) demanded the admission of Kansas as a free 
State and (2) denied the authority of Congress, or a Territorial 
legislature, to allow slavery in any Territory. A fourth party, 
known as the Constitutional Union party, nominated John Bell 
of Tennessee, and declared for " the Constitution of the coun- 
try, the LTnion of the States, and the enforcement of the laws." 




" The Wigwam," the Building in which 
Lincohi Was Nominated at Chicago 



SHALL SLAVE TERRITORY BE EXTENDED? 287 

In the election that took place in November Lincoln re- 
ceived 180 electoral votes, Breckenridge 72, Bell 39, and Doug- 
las 12. Of the popular votes Lincoln had 1,857,610; Doug-las, 
1,291,574; Breckenridge. 850.052; Bell, 646,124. 

Thus the great Democratic party went down in defeat. With 
the exception of two periods of four years each, it had gov- 
erned the country for sixty years. And what was the signifi- 
cance of this election? What did this victory of the Repub- 
licans in i860 mean? It meant that the people had placed in 
power a party that was opposed to the extension of slavery ; it 
meant that the enemies of slavery had gained control of the 
national government. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the Presidential election of 1852. 

2. What were the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill? What 
effect did this law have upon the slavery question? 

3. Give an account of the struggle in Kansas between the free-State 
men and the slave-State men. 

4. Give an account of the Presidential election of 1856 and of the 
rise of the Republican party. 

5. What was the Dred Scott decision? What was the effect of this 
decision? 

6. Give an account of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. 

7. Give an account of John Brown's Raid. 

8. Give an account of the Presidential election of i860. What sig- 
nificance did the result of this election have? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1492, 1643, 1776, 1789, 1850. 

2. Persons : Henry the Navigator, Columbus, Americus Vespucius, 
Roger Williams, Daniel Boone, Hamilton, John Quincy Adams, 
Clay, Calhoun, Garrison, Fillmore. 

3. Tell what you can about : Life in the Backwoods ; the Era of 
Good Feeling; the Treason of Arnold. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Slavery; Political Parties; The 
Presidents : their Elections and Inaugurations ; Agriculture. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Early Life of Lincoln: A New Nation, 166-180. 

(2) The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: A New Nation, 186-198. 

(3) The Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin: A Nev^^ Nation, 
203-209. 



XL 

OUR COUNTRY IN i860 

Since the election of Lincoln was a turning-point in our national 
history, it will be well here to take a survey of our nation as it 
existed about the year i860, and learn what kind of place it was 
at that time and what progress we were making. 

Railroad-Building: the " Pony Express." One of the 

most striking features of American progress between 1850 and 
i860 was railroad-building. The first railroads (p. 239) in 
most cases were short lines built as feeders to lakes and rivers 
and canals. But in the Fifties great trunk lines began to be 
carried from the seaboard westward across the continent clear 
to the Mississippi River. By 1850 the New York Central 
Railroad had grown from a little line connecting Albany and 
Schenectady to a trunk line upon which one could travel from 
New York City to Buffalo. By 1852 a trunk line was running 
from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh; by 1855 swift iron horses 
were running over a smooth iron road that extended from 
New York to St. Louis. During the Fifties, also, railroad- 
building in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan was carried 
forward at such an astonishing rate that by i860 the Middle 
West had become a network of railways. 

But by i860 few railroads ran beyond the Mississippi. The 
journey across the plains to far-off Utah, Oregon, and Cali- 
fornia was still made in heavy stage-coaches or wagons, which 
moved along the old trails (p. 257) so slowly that it required 
three or four months to reach the coast. The mails from 
points on the Mississippi River to the Pacific were carried on 
horseback. Important mail was hurried along by means of a 
" pony express." This was a line of fleet horsemen who rode 
in relays. The mail-carrier would mount a spirited pony at 

288 



OUR COUNTRY IN i860 289 

St. Joseph, in Missouri, and gallop at breakneck speed about 
twenty miles to the first relay station, where there was a pony 
all saddled and ready. The carrier mounted this fresh pony 
and dashed away to the next station, where there was another 
fresh pony. At this third station another carrier took the mail. 
Day and night, in sunshine and storm, across prairies and 
mountains, the swift rider pursued his journey. By means 
of the " pony express " the mail was sometimes carried 2,000 
miles in ten days. 

The Westward Movement in the Fifties. The building up 
of the West went on even more rapidly in the Fifties than it 
did in the Forties (p. 253). This was because the trunk lines 
made it easier for home-seekers to reach the country across 
the Mississippi. The growth of Minnesota in the Fifties was 
the most wonderful event in the entire history of Western set- 
tlement. Minnesota was organized as a Territory in 1849. 
The population of the Territory at this time was less than 5,- 
000. " There was a trading-post at Wabasha, a stone house 
at the foot of Lake Pepin, a mission house at Red Wing and 
at Kaposia, and a trading-post at Mendota, but that was all." 
But soon there was a rush of emigrants to " No Man's Land " 
as Minnesota for a time was called. In 1853 more than 28,- 
000,000 acres of land, which had belonged to the Sioux Indians, 
was thrown open to the whites. The next year Chicago and 
Rock Island, on the Mississippi, were joined by a railroad; and 
in 1856 the Sault Ste. Marie Canal was opened. Minnesota 
was now easy to reach, and emigrants swarmed over her va- 
cant land like bees. The Territory was settled rapidly, and 
in 1857 the population was thirty times as great as it had been 
eight years before. So, when its people asked to be admitted 
into the Union in 1858, their wish was granted. In 1861 the 
great wilderness lying west of this new State and extending 
to the Rocky Mountains was organized as the Territory of 
Dakota. 

While Minnesota was filling up with settlers, pioneers were 
also moving out into Kansas and Nebraska. During the years 
of the slavery contest in Kansas (p. 282) emigrants from both 



290 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

the North and the South poured into the Territory, and by 
i860 its population was more than 100,000. Kansas was now 
ready for statehood and in 1861 it was admitted into the 
Union. By this time Nebraska Territory had a population of 
more than 30,000, and its people felt that Nebraska also ought 
to be admitted. But it had to wait for some years. 

It was in the Fifties, also, that the first settlements in Colo- 
rado were made. The early development of Colorado, like 




the development of most of the Rocky Mountain States, was 
due to the discovery of valuable mines of precious metals. In 
1859 a rich gold-mine was discovered in the Pike's Peak coun- 
try, and forthwith there was a wild rush to the scene. " Pike's 
Peak or bust '' became the motto of fortune-seekers in all parts 
of the country. It was estimated that within a year nearly 
60,000 gold-seekers visited the newly discovered mines. Thou- 
sands of these " fifty-niners," remained and laid the founda- 
tions of Colorado. Mining towns such as Denver. Boulder, 
and Pueblo were built so rapidly that they seemed to rise 
out of the ground overnight. The miners felt the need of law 
and order, and at once organized a new government under 
the name of the Territory of Jefiferson. In 1861, however, 
Congress organized the Territory of Colorado, and the Terri- 
tory of JefTerson passed out of existence. Three days after 
Colorado was provided with a government, Nevada was made 



OUR COUNTRY IN i860 291 

a Territory. The development of Nevada was due almost 
wholly to the discovery of the great Comstock silver-mine. 

The force of the westward movement in the Fifties was felt 
clear across the continent. California by i860 had grown to 
be a great State with a population of nearly 400,000. Oregon 
in the Fifties also grew rapidly. In 1853 a part of Oregon was 
set ofif and organized as Washington Territory, and six years 
later Oregon was admitted to the Union. 

Thus between 1850 and 1861 Minnesota, Oregon, and Kan- 
sas were admitted as States, and Washington, Nebraska, Da- 
kota, Nevada, and Colorado were organized as Territories.^ 

Commerce and Industry. While these new States and 
Territories were rising in the West, the commerce and indus- 
try of the East were flourishing as never before. The build- 
ing of the railroad trunk lines was like causing navigable rivers 
to flow from the West to the Atlantic seaboard. On the rail- 
roads the products of the Western farmer could be borne to 
Eastern ports and from these ports could be shipped to 
Europe. As a result our yearly shipments of goods to foreign 
markets were more than doubled in the Fifties. Our foreign 
trade in i860 was about one half exports and one half im- 
ports ; we were thus buying from abroad about as much as we 
were selling. As a commercial nation, therefore, we were 
standing on our feet. 

Agriculture was still our chief pursuit, as it had always 
been. Great quantities of wheat and corn were raised, but 
•cotton was the most important product of the farm. In i860 
the United States raised seven eighths of all the cotton in the 
world. No wonder that the South believed that cotton was 
king ! 

But. while agriculture was still in the lead, manufacturing 
was not far behind. For the factory system (p. 263) was 

1 It was in the Fifties that the Gadsden Purchase was made. This 
consisted of a tract of 36,000 square miles of land now included in the 
southern part of Arizona and New Mexico. It was purchased in 1853 
from Mexico for the sum of $10,000,000. James Gadsden acting as the 
agent of the United States in making the purchase. 



292 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



now in full swing, and the articles of manufacture were in- 
creasing in number and variety. The iron industry and the 
coal industry were going forward at a marvelous rate, while, 
thanks to the Howe sewing-machine, ready-made clothing had 
by this time come into being and was furnishing clothes at un- 
usually low prices. In truth, manufacturing by i860 had 




A Factory Town (Manchester, N. H.) in the Fifties 

practically overtaken agriculture ; for in that year the products 
of our farms were worth about $2,000,000,000, while the 
products of our factories were worth nearly the same sum. 

Growth of Cities. With the progress of manufactures the 
cities of the country grew in size and number. This was to 
be expected, for manufactures on a large scale can be carried 
on only in cities. In 1850 the only places that had more than 
100,000 inhabitants were New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
and New Orleans. In i860 Boston, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, 
St. Louis, and Chicago had passed the 100.000 mark. In 
the Fifties great cities began to rise in the West, for manu- 
factures by this time were moving westward. 

The growth of St. Louis and Chicago at this time was 
amazing. In 1840 St. Louis was a town of 16,000; in 1850 
its population was 75,000: in i860 it contained 160,000 in- 
habitants and had practically overtaken Cincinnati, long known 



OUR COUNTRY IN i860 



293 



as the " Queen City of the West." For many years the growth 
of Chicago was slow. As late as 1838 wolves could be heard 
at night howling in the woods around the town. But about 
1840 Chicago began to ship wheat in large quantities to the 
East, and then the town began to grow. In 1847 McCormick 
built a factory in Chicago and began to make reapers by the 
thousands and tens of thousands. This greatly hastened the 
growth of the place. In the Fifties the city was connected by 





Columbus, Ohio, in 1853 

railroads with places on the Atlantic seaboard and with points 
on the Mississippi River. Chicago now grew more rapidly 
than ever, and it was not many years before it held first rank 
among the cities west of the Alleghanies. 

Many other places were well started on the road to per- 
manent and prosperous cityhood. In New England there 
were Providence, Worcester, Lowell, Cambridge, Hartford, 
and New Haven. In the Middle States there were Newark, 
Jersey City, Wilmington, Reading, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Troy, 
Rochester, Albany, and Syracuse ; in the West there were 
Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Dayton, Louisville, and San 
Francisco. Each of these had a population of more than 



294 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



20,000, while five — Providence, Newark, Buffalo, Louisville, 
and San Francisco — had populations of over 50,000 each. 
Thus by i860 the ifactory system was changing the face of 
American civilization, for in nearly every instance the growth 
of these cities was due chiefly to a growth in manufacturing 
industries. 




A Street Car in i860 

Every-Day Life in 1860. By i860 the people of the United 
States were living in a different kind of world from that in 
which the people of 1800 lived. The age of steam had fully 
arrived, and people were accustomed to steamboats and steam- 
cars and all kinds of steam-driven machinery. In the cities 
the streets were paved and were lighted by gas. In the largest 
places there were street-cars drawn by horses. The telegraph 
was coming into general use.^ The old common printing press 
was being cast aside, and the revolving press of Hoe was print- 

1 In 1861 a telegraph line extended clear across the continent, con- 
necting New York and San Francisco. Five years later the Old World 
and the New had been joined by cable, thanks chiefly to the persever- 
ance and energy of Cyrus W. Field of New York. 



OUR COUNTRY IN i860 295 

ing newspapers so rapidly and so cheaply that the daily paper 
could be enjoyed by all. Express companies had been organ- 
ized and were doing a thriving business. 

The thousands of useful inventions that were patented every 
year were by i860 giving the people comforts and conveniences 
with which we are familiar enough to-day, but which were un- 
known to our forefathers of a hundred years ago. Houses 
were heated by stoves and hot-air furnaces, and, in the cities, 
were lighted by gas. Candles were going out of use and oil- 
lamps were taking their place. The match had been invented 
and was being used in every household. In fact, if we could 
go back to the year i860 and get a glimpse of the houses and 
the streets and stores and factories, things would look in many 
respects very much as they look to-day. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of railroad-builders in the Fifties; of the pony 
express. 

2. Tell the story of the westward movement in the Fifties. 

3. What progress were we making in commerce and industry in the 
Fifties? 

4. Name the cities that were growing at a rapid rate in the 
Fifties. 

5. Give an account of every-day life in i860. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1803, 1825, 1846, 1850, i860. 

2. Persons : Balboa, Magellan, De Soto, George Custer, Samuel 
Adams, John Adams, Van Buren, Garrison, Fillmore, Pierce, Douglas, 
Lincoln, Buchanan, John Brown, Lee. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Alien and Sedition Laws ; the Era 
of Good Feeling; the Monroe Doctrine; the Spoils System. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Westward Movement; Commerce; 
Manufacturing; The Growth of Cities; The Tariff; Commerce; Agri- 
culture ; Slavery. 

5. Reading References : 

( 1 ) Foreign Commerce : Bogart, 226-228. 

(2) Internal Trade: Bogart, 228-230. 

(3) Important Means of Communication: Bogart, 233-235. 

(4) Application of Machinery to Agriculture: Bogart, 278- 
281. 



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Abraham Lincoln 



XLI 

THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 

At the time when the people of the United States were enjoying 
the wonderful prosperity described in the last chapter, the slavery 
question was hovering over the country like a dreadful cloud. 
The election of Lincoln was quickly followed by the withdrawal 
from the Union of eleven Southern States. What were the begin- 
nings of this secession movement, and how was it dealt with by 
our national government? 

A House Divided Against Itself. The election of Lincoln 
did more to stir up bad feeling on the slavery question than 
anything that had yet happened — more than the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise, more than the Dred Scott decision, 
more than John Brown's Raid. The excitement was greatest 
in the South. The people of the South regarded the triumph 
of Lincoln as a death-blow to their power. By balancing slave 
States against free States the South for many years had been 
able to wield as much power as the North. But in the de- 
velopment of the country the scales had not been kept even. 
After the admission of Texas (in 1845) "ot a single slave 
State had entered the LInion, whereas between 1845 ^^^ i860 
Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, and Oregon had all 
come in as free States; and this admission of free States had 
given the North control of both houses of Congress. The 
power of the South had been slipping away long before i860, 
and the election of Lincoln seemed to prove beyond doubt 
that henceforth the North would lead and that the South 
would be compelled to follow. 

The people of the South viewed the new order of things with 
distrust and alarm. They felt that Lincoln and the Repub- 
licans would not treat them fairly. In the campaign the Re- 
publicans had declared against the extension of slavery, and 

297 



298 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

they had come into power on that issue. Lincoln also had 
said that if he was elected he would do all he could to pre- 
vent the extension of slavery. He would not, he said, dis- 
turb slavery in the States where it already existed, but it 
should not spread into new territory. The South felt that 
this was unjust. It felt that the Dred Scott decision made it 
certain that it was the right of a slave-owner to carry his 
slaves into a Territory, and that there was no power anywhere 
that could justly deprive him of this right. So in the minds 
of the Southern people the election of Lincoln meant that 
the South was to be robbed of a right that the Constitution 
gave it. 

Then, too, the people of the South were afraid that the elec- 
tion of Lincoln was the first step in a movement that would 
one day take their slaves away from them. They believed 
that the Republicans had it in their minds to abolish slavery 
just as soon as they could do so. Lincoln, it is true, said he 
had no such intention, and the Republican party had never de- 
clared in favor of abolition. Nevertheless Lincoln thought 
that slavery was wrong, and he had said that the Republic 
could " not endure half slave and half free." These words, 
the South said, could only mean that Lincoln was for a re- 
public that was all free. 

Moreover, with the election of Lincoln the country began 
to realize that slavery had become a moral question. By i8()0 
the people of the North were beginning to hate slavery. They 
thought it was wrong, and even sinful, to hold human beings 
in bondage, and for this reason many prominent men of the 
North had by i860 become out-and-out abolitionists. On the 
other hand, the men of the South in. i860 saw no wrong what- 
ever in slavery, and they grew very bitter indeed when they 
were told that slavery was a sin and that slaveholders were 
sinners. 

So by i860 our Union was fast becoming " a house divided 
against itself." In their hearts the people of the North and 
the people of the South no longer regarded each other with 
kindly feelings. Years of bickerings and strife about slavery 



THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 



299 



had destroyed the feehng of brotherhood between the two 
sections. In the halls of Congress, as men of the North 
passed men of the South, they looked into each other's eyes 
with hatred. " So far as I know," said a Senator of the 
United States in i860, " and as I believe, every man in both 
houses [of Congress] is armed with a revolver and a bowie- 
knife." 

Attempt at Compromise. Of course this state of affairs 
could not last forever. Men could not go on looking into 
each other's eyes with hate 
without sooner or later 
coming to blows. One of 
three things had to take 
place : either this slavery 
question must be settled by 
compromise as it was in 
1820 and again in 1850; or, 
the South and the North 
would have to separate 
peacefully ; or, the question 
would have to be settled on 
the field of battle. 

Compromise was tried 
first, and tried sincerely. 
M any schemes were 
brought forward, the most 
important one being that 
offered (December 18, 
i860) by Senator Critten- 
den of Kentucky. Critten- 
den's plan was to amend 
the Constitution in a way 
that would prohibit slavery 
north of parallel 36° 30' 
and permit slavery south of that line. This was practically 
what was done by the Missouri Compromise. This plan, how- 
ever, did not precisely suit either the South or the North, and 




Jefferson Davis 

Born in Kentucky, in 1808; graduated at 
West Point; Secretary of War, 1853-57; 
became provisional President of the Con- 
federacy in 1 86 1 and President in 1862; ar- 
rested in 1865 and imprisoned; amnestied 
in 1868; died in 1880. 



300 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

there was on the scene no great peacemaker Hke Clay to carry 
the measure through Congress. Crittenden's plan failed, and 
with it perished all hope of a compromise. 

Secession, While Crittenden's plan of compromise was 
being debated in Congress, the South was planning for a 
separation from the Union ; that is, for secession. The lead- 
ing State in the secession movement was South Carolina. Even 
before the election of Lincoln this State began to take steps 
toward a withdrawal from the Union, and by December 20, 
i860, a convention of delegates had declared that South Caro- 
lina was no longer one of the United States. By February i, 
1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Loui^siana, and 
Texas had also left the Union. 

As soon as the seceding States had withdrawn from the old 
Union they at once took steps to form a new Union. On 
February 4, 1861, delegates from the seven seceding States met 
at Montgomery, Alabama, and drew up a constitution for the 
government of the new Republic, which was to be known as 
the " Confederate States of America." In this constitution 
of the Confederate States slavery was fully recognized as a 
lawful institution. The Confederate States chose Jefferson 
Davis of Mississippi as their President. 

Davis had succeeded Calhoun as the leader of the South, 
and when his State seceded he went with it. He was a man 
of great strength of character and of sincere purpose. When 
he withdrew from the Senate he made a speech giving his rea- 
sons for withdrawing. He said he believed the States were 
their own masters when they came into the Union, and that 
they continued to be their own masters after they had entered 
the Union. H this was so, a State, he said, was free to re- 
main in the Union or to withdraw from the Union. His State 
had decided to leave the Union, and he was going out with 
it, not because he loved the Union less, but because he loved 
Mississippi more. And the reason that led Davis to leave 
the Union was the reason that led others to leave it; they left 
the Union because they thought their first duty was to their 
State. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 301 

President Buchanan did practically nothing to check the 
secession movement. He was now an old man, and he seemed 
unable to grasp affairs with a firm hand. He allowed the 
secessionists to go on with their plans, seizing the property and 
forts of the United States government and disregarding the 
laws of the United States. By January i, 1861, South Caro- 
lina had taken possession of all the forts in Charleston harbor 
except Fort Sumter, which was held by Major Robert Ander- 
son of the United States army. Anderson needed supplies 
and more men, and the Star of the West was sent to his relief, 
bearing men and provisions. As the steamer entered the har- 
bor with the American flag flying, she was fired upon by the 
secessionists and compelled to turn back. So Anderson was 
not relieved. Buchanan's management of affairs was so lack- 
ing in firmness that effective aid could not be given to a fort 
that was in need of help. 

Lincoln at the Helm. But a strong man was to follow 
Buchanan. On Alarch 4, 1861, Lincoln was inaugurated 
President. In his Inaugural Address he told the South pre- 
cisely what it might expect from him. " No State," he said, 
" can lawfully get out of the Union. ... To the extent of 
my ability I shall take care that the laws of the Union be 
faithfully executed in all the States. . . . The power confided 
in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property 
belonging to the government, and to collect duties and im- 
posts. ... In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, 
and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The 
government will not assail you. You can have no conflict 
without being yourselves the aggressors. We are not enemies, 
but friends." 

These were mild words indeed, but they really meant war. 
If Lincoln would not allow the seceding States to remain out 
of the Union, if he executed the laws of the United States on 
the soil of the Confederate States, if he took possession of 
the Southern ports and collected taxes at those ports, he was 
going to have war. This was what the South understood by 
his address, and it was what the country understood by it. 



302 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The Firing upon Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was in need 
of men and supplies, and the President determined that it 
should be relieved. But he was not heartily supported by the 
men around him. His cabinet thought it wiser to abandon 
Fort Sumter. William H. Seward, his Secretary of State, 
thought it would provoke war to send supplies to the fort, 
and he was against doing anything that might bring on war. 
Even General Scott, the commanding general of the army, 
was opposed to anything like harsh measures. " Say to the 
seceded States," he said, " ' Wayward sisters, depart in 
peace.' " Lincoln, however, did not listen to these advisers. 
He commanded (April 6) the army and navy to join forces 
and relieve Fort Sumter with men and provisions. 

When the government of the Confederate States heard of 
Lincoln's action, Davis and his cabinet decided at once to de- 
mand the surrender of the fort, and to fire upon it if it re- 
fused to surrender. In discussing the matter, Robert Toombs, 
one of the members of the cabinet, said : " The firing upon that 
fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world 
has yet seen. . . . You will wantonly strike a hornets' nest 
which extends from mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet 
will swarm out and sting us to death." General Beauregard, 
an officer of the national army who had joined the Confeder- 
ates, demanded of Major Anderson the surrender of the fort ; 

and, when this was refused, 
firing upon Fort Sumter be- 
gan (April 12, 1861 ). The 
fort had but sixty- four men 
and but little ammunition. 
Anderson made a brave de- 
fense, but he was compelled 
to surrender. He was per- 
mitted to march out of the 
fort (April 14) with col- 
ors flying and drums beat- 
ing and saluting the flag 
with fifty guns. Although 




Charleston Harbor 



THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CONFLICT 303 

there had been heavy firing, no Hfe was lost on either 
side. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Why did the election of Lincoln cause so much excitement in the 
South? Why did the South fear it would lose its slaves? Why could 
it be truly said that in i860 our Union was a house divided against it- 
self? 

2. Give an account of Crittenden's Compromise. 

3. What States were the first to secede? Give an account of the 
government of the Confederate States. What reason did Davis give 
for seceding? How did Buchanan meet the secession movement? 

4. What did Lincoln tell the seceding States they might expect of 
him? 

5. What was the attitude of Lincoln's advisers toward secession? 
Give an account of the attack upon Fort Sumter. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates : 1664, 1812, 1850. i860. 

2. Persons : William Penn, Eli Whitney, James Madison, W. H. 
Harrison, Webster, Fillmore, Pierce, Douglas, Lincoln, Buchanan, John 
Brown, Lee. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Stamp Act; the Louisiana Purchase; 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin." 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Nullification and Secession; The 
Presidents : their Election and Inauguration ; Slavery. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) How the Civil War Began: Eggleston, 3067311. 

(2) When Lincoln Was Inaugurated : Stories of the Republic, 
243-259- 

(3) The First Step in the War: The Civil War, ICH28. 

(4) Going to the Front: The Civil War, 28-36. 

(5) Fort Sumter: Hitchcock, 236-270, 



XLII 

THE FIRST CLASHES OF THE CIVIL WAR 

The firing upon Fort Sumter was the beginning of a civil war 
which lasted for four years, and which drenched the country in 
blood. What were the first clashes in the mighty struggle between 
the North and the South ? 

Lincoln Calls for Volunteers ; the Secession of Four More 
States. The firing upon Fort Sumter made it certain that the 
South intended to fight, so Lincoln at once began to prepare 
for a bloody conflict. But in 1861, as in 1812 (p. 197), the 
nation was wholly unprepared for a great war. The regular 
army consisted of only about 18,000 men, and they were scat- 
tered over the country at army posts. Since the regular army 
was so weak, Lincoln called for volunteer soldiers. He asked 
for 75,000 men, and 300,000 responded. The attack upon Fort 
Sumter had aroused the whole country to a sense of duty. 
Every man had now to decide whether he was for a Union 
consisting of all the States, the Union Lincoln was trying to 
uphold, or whether he was for secession. At the North the 
people, Democrats and Republicans alike, decided for the 
Union ; at the South the people, in most of the States, were 
on the side of secession. Every State also had to decide 
whether it was for Union or for disunion. Of course no free 
State was for secession. But there were fifteen slave States, 
and only seven had seceded. What would the other eight do? 
They gave their answer quickly after the firing on Sumter. 
Four (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) re- 
mained in the Union; and four (Virginia, North Carolina, 
Tennessee, and Arkansas) seceded and joined the Confeder- 
ate States. 

Strength of the North and the South Compared. At the 

304 



THE FIRST CLASHES OF THE CIVIL WAR 



305 



outbreak of the Civil War what was the strength of the North 
when compared with the strength of the South? In what re- 




'Sji^^.w '<' 



^?-v-' 



■5 - r " 



Volunteers Pouring into Cincinnati 

spect was the outlook favorable to one section and unfavorable 
to the other? 

In many respects the North was the stronger of the contend- 
ing sections. On the side of the Union there were twenty-two 
States, while the Confederate States numbered only eleven. 
The population of the States remaining in the Union was 
twenty-two millions ; the population of the seceded States was 
five and a half millions of whites and three and a half millions 
of blacks. The white population of the North, therefore, was 
about four times that of the South. In wealth and material 
resources the North was also far ahead of the South. The 
North had shops to supply its armies with the weapons of war; 
it had factories to make clothing for its soldiers ; and it had 
farms to supply them with food. The South had little be- 
sides its farms, and these did not supply enough food for the 
people, for cotton was the chief product of the Southern 
plantations. Another great advantage of the North was its 



3o6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

control of the sea. The navy, for the most part, remained 
true to the Union, and nearly all the vesesls of the American 
merchant marine — and it was very large in 1861 — were 
owned in the North' and were at the service of the Union. 

In one important respect, however, the outlook was favor- 
able to the South. The task of the South was much lighter 
than the task laid out for itself by the North. The South had 
only to defend itself against attack and invasion ; it desired 
only to be let alone. It was not compelled to go forth and 
conquer. It could win without conquering a single foot of 
territory ; all it had to do was to hold its ground. But the 
North was compelled to conquer and crush, piece by piece, a 
country nearly five times as large as France. This was in- 
deed a mighty undertaking; but it was a thing the North must 
do, or else victory would be with the South. 

First Clashes. The first clashes of the Civil War occurred, 
naturally, in the border States, in Maryland, Virginia, Ken- 
tucky, and Missouri. The first blood was shed in the city of 
Baltimore. On April 19, five days after the surrender of 
Fort Sumter, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, while march- 
ing through the streets of Baltimore on its way to Washing- 
ton, was attacked by a crowd of secessionists. There was 
shooting on both sides and several soldiers and a number of 
citizens were killed. The regiment fought its way to the rail- 
road station, and within a few hours reached Washington, 
where it was anxiously awaited by Lincoln, who was afraid 
Southern troops might at any moment attack the capital. 

The first clash in the West occurred in Missouri. There 
were many secessionists in Missouri, and it was for a while 
doubtful whether the State would join the Confederacy or re- 
main in the Union. The Governor was a strong secessionist, 
and he tried to take his State over to the Confederates. But 
he was prevented from doing this by Nathaniel Lyon, who, 
with a small army of Union soldiers, captured the principal 
strongholds of the State and drove the Governor from the 
seat of power. Thus by the prompt action of Lyon the State 
was saved to the Union, and " gallant Missouri " had a death- 



THE FIRST CLASHES OF THE CIVIL WAR 



307 



roll in the Union army as great as the death-roll of Massa- 
chusetts. 

Another of the early clashes of the war occurred in the 
western part of Virginia. The interests of western Virginia 
lay with the North rather than with the South. Less than 
four per cent, of the population were slaves. Its sons at- 
tended schools in free States. The natural flow of its rivers 
caused it to seek a market for its products in Pittsburgh and 
in the towns of the Mississippi valley. It happened, there- 







The Seventh Regiment Leaving New York for the Fruiil 

fore, that while the eastern part of Virginia was strongly in 
favor of secession, the western part was loyal to the Union. 
So when Virginia seceded from the Union (April 17, 1861) 
the people over the mountains refused to go out with her. 
They took steps at once to secede from eastern Virginia and 
form a government of their own. In order to check this 
movement, Confederate troops were sent into western Vir- 
ginia. On June 3 the Confederates were attacked at Philippi 
by a Union force under General George B. McClellan, and 
were defeated. The people of western Virginia now carried 



3o8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

forward their plan of separation. On June ii, 1861, delegates 
from forty western counties met at Wheeling and organized 
a new State, which in 1863 was admitted as the State of West 
Virginia. Thus one of the first results of secession was to 
give a new State to the Union. 

Battle of Manassas or Bull Run. The first important battle 
of the war was fought near Manassas, about thirty miles 
southwest of Washington. Lincoln's call for troops quickly 
brought a large army to Washington and to eastern Virginia, 
and it was not long before the people of the North began to 
demand that the army move forward and capture Richmond, 
which, as soon as Virginia seceded, was chosen as the new 
capital of the Confederacy. " On to Richmond ! On to 
Richmond ! " was the cry of the North. So it was determined 
to move upon Richmond. On July 16 the Union general, Mc- 
Dowell, marched out of Washington with about 30,000 men 
to give battle to the Confederate general, Beauregard, who was 
stationed near Manassas, along the stream of Bull Run, with 
about 22,000 men. Some of McDowell's men were regular, 
well trained soldiers, while others were raw and undisciplined. 
Because of a lack of discipline his army could move only 
about six miles a day. On July 21 the two armies met in 
battle, and the Union army was disastrously defeated. The 
retreat did not stop until many of the soldiers were within 
the fortifications at Washington. 

McClellan Organizes the Army of the Potomac. When 
the Northern people heard of the defeat of their army at 
Manassas, they hung their heads in shame, for they felt that 
the Union soldiers had acted like cowards. However, the 
defeat was not due to cowardice, but to a lack of training 
and to the bad organization of the army. Lincoln saw this 
clearly, and at once set about making changes in the military 
organization. On the very day after the rout at Bull Run he 
summoned General McClellan from West Virginia and made 
him commander of all the forces in and around Washington. 

McClellan found the army in a disordered, disorganized 
condition. Raw regiments were constantly flocking into 



THE FIRST CLASHES OF THE CIVIL WAR 309 

Washington, but little was done in the way of training the men 
for duty. Officers spent their time in lounging around the 
city. Shortly before McClellan arrived at Washington it was 
said that a boy threw a stone at a dog on Pennsylvania Avenue 
and hit three brigadier-generals. After the " Little Napoleon," 
as McClellan was called, appeared upon the scene, generals and 
other officers were not so numerous on the streets, for the new 




Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, in 1861 

commander kept them busy drilling their regiments and pre- 
paring their men for actual warfare. As a result of his in- 
dustry and skill, McClellan by the last of October had a well- 
drilled, well-organized, and well-equipped army of 150.000 
men — the Army of the Potomac. As a reward for his serv- 
ices Lincoln made (November i, 1861) McClellan the com- 
mander of all the armies of the United States. 

What was to be done with the magnificent army which Mc- 
Clellan had organized? The people of the North thought it 
ought to be led promptly against the enemy and the cry, " On 
to Richmond ! On to Richmond ! " was again heard. But Mc- 
Clellan was slow to move. He was a superb drill-master and 
organizer, but be was not a bold fighter. He thought too much 
about saving his men from defeat and too little about leading 
them on to victory. So he held his fine army in check. Sum- 



310 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

mer passed, fall passed, the year (1861) passed, and still he 
made no advance upon Richmond. 

The Blockade. As soon as Lincoln saw there was going 
to be war, he declared (April 19, 1861) the coast from Vir- 
ginia to Texas to be in a state of blockade ; he ordered that 
no ships from any country should be allowed to go into or out 
of the seaports of the South. In order to make the blockade 
effective, he stationed war-vessels along the coast, and if any 
ship attempted to enter a port or sail out from a port it was 
captured. The purpose of the blockade was to prevent the 
South from selling her cotton and tobacco to England and 
other countries and receiving in exchange guns, ammunition, 
and other military supplies. The blockade was a heavy blow 
to the Confederacy, for the South had no great gun- factories, 
and she was compelled to go outside for most of the things 
needed in carrying on the war. 

The Capture of Mason and Slidell. On November 8, 1861, 
the San Jacinto, an American man-of-'war, overhauled in the 
Bermuda Channel the British mail steamship Trent and took 
from her by force James Mason and John Slidell, who had 
been commissioned by the Confederate government to repre- 
sent its interests in England and France. This act was con- 
trary to the law of nations, and England demanded that Ma- 
son and Slidell be given up. Our government yielded, and 
the prisoners were placed on board an English vessel and taken 
to England. 

The European Background of the Civil War. It was 
extremely fortunate that the Trent affair was settled in a 
peaceful manner. We needed the good will of England and 
of the other countries of Europe and at the beginning of the 
war it was by no means certain that we would have their good 
will. Indeed the European background in 1861 was not at 
all favorable to the North. The Emperor of France was 
scheming to plant the French flag on Mexican soil and he felt 
that he would not be able to carry out his plans if the North 
was successful. His sympathies, therefore, were with the 
South. England was in need of cotton for her factories, but 



THE FIRST CLASHES OF THE CIVIL WAR 311 

her ships were kept out of the Southern ports by the block- 
ade. There were many EngHshmen, therefore, who hoped 
that the South would win. Both France and England recog- 
nized the Confederacy as a belligerent; that is, they recog- 
nized it as having a government that was carrying on a war. 
They also declared themselves neutral, which meant that they 
would not fight on the side of the North or on the side of the 
South. But neither France nor England recognized the Con- 
federacy as an independent nation. And lucky it was for the 
North that the independence of the Confederacy was not 
recognized! If England had given such recognition she would 
doubtless have broken the blockade and renewed her trade 
with the South, for she sadly needed that trade. Her mills 
were idle and her workingmen were suffering because she 
could get no cotton. But the English workingmen, feeling 
that the contest in America was between free labor and slave 
labor, sympathized with the North and wanted it to win even 
though it was necessary for British factories to close and 
British workingmen to go hungry. So in refusing to recog- 
nize the Confederacy England pleased her workingmen and 
at the same time helped the North in its figh:. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What effect did the firing upon Fort Sumter have upon the coun- 
try? 

2. At the outbreak of tlie war what was the strength of the North 
when compared with the strength of the South? In what respects was 
the outlook favorable to the South? 

3. When and where was the first shedding of blood in the Civil 
War? How was Missouri saved to the Union? What led to the 
formation of the State of West Virginia? 

4. Give an account of the Battle of Manassas. 

5. Give an account of McClellan's organization of the Army of the 
Potomac. Compare McClellan's skill as an organizer with his qualities 
as a fighter. 

6. Describe the blockade. What was its purpose? 

7. Give an account of the Mason and Slidell affair. 

8. Describe the European background of the Civil War. 



312 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1522, 1689 (2), 1787, 1850, i860. 

2. Persons : Cabot, Drake, Raleigh, Edmund Andros, Jackson, Tyler, 
Polk, Taylor, Pierce, Buchanan, Douglas, Lincoln, John Brown, Lee, 
Davis. 

3. Tell what you can about : Bacon's Rebellion ; the Tories ; the 
Treason of Arnold ; the Embargo of 1807. 

4. Review of Great Subjects: Wars since 1789; Foreign Relations 
since 1789; Population; Nullification and Secession; European Back- 
ground. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The First Battle of Bull Run: The Civil War, 47-60. 

(2) Stedman's Account of Bull Run : Hart, 305-308. 

(3) War Preparations : The Civil War, 36-46. 



XLIII 

THE WAR IN THE WEST 

For several months after the outbreak of the war the Union 
forces followed no definite plan of campaign. By the close of 
1861, however, it was clear to the minds of Lincoln and his advisers 
that the Union forces must do three things: first, they must cap- 
ture Richmond ; second, they must gain full possession of the 
Mississippi River and thus cut the Confederacy into two parts; 
third, they must make the blockade effective and not let the South 
get any supplies from abroad. This meant war in Virginia and 
the neighboring States, war in the West, and war along the coast 
and on the ocean. In this chapter we shall have an account of 
the fighting in the West in 1862. 

Fort Donelson and Fort Henry. The first fighting in 1862 
was in the West, where the Confederates held a series of 
fortified posts at Columbtis — in Kentucky — Fort Henry, 
Fort Donelson, Bowling Green, and Cumberland Gap (map, 
p. 316). Of these strongholds Fort Henry, on the Tennes- 
see River, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River, were 
the most important, for they guarded waterways that led far 
into the center of the Confederacy. It was decided, there- 
fore, by the Union generals to secure possession of these two 
forts as speedily as possible. In February Commodore Foote, 
with a flotilla of gunboats, made his way to Fort Henry and 
captttred it. The Confederate soldiers in the fort, however, 
escaped to Fort Donelson. twelve miles away. Foote now 
returned with his gunboats to the Ohio, and ascended the 
Cumberland to attack Fort Donelson by water, while General 
U. S. Grant was to attack it by land. The gunboats were 
driven back ; but Grant, with an army of 30,000 men, pressed 
hard upon the fort, and after three days of fierce fighting com- 

313 



314 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

pelled it to surrender (February i6), capturing about 15,000 
Confederate soldiers. Thus General Grant won the first im- 
portant Union victory of the war. 

The capture of Fort Donelson was an event of the great- 
est importance. It brought the whole of Kentucky and a large 
part of Tennessee under control of the Union forces, and it 



J- 



Facsimile of the Original " Unconditional Surrender " Dispatch, 
which Grant Sent to the Confederate General 

opened a road into the heart of the Confederacy. It inspired 
the North with confidence and hope, for it showed that West- 
ern men could fight as bravely as Southern men. It also had 
the effect of bringing General Grant to the front. 

Before the Civil War little was known of this great mili- 
tary hero. Grant was trained for war in the Military Acad- 
emy at West Point, where he was graduated in 1843, stand- 
ing twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. He served as a 
lieutenant in the Mexican war and won some distinction for 
his bravery. In 1854 he resigned from the army and settled 



THE WAR IN THE WEST 315 

near St. Louis, where he tried to make a living by farming, 
but failed. In i860 he moved with his family to Galena, 
Illinois, and took a position in his father's store at a salary of 
$800 a year. Grant was then thirty-eight years of age. He 
had accomplished but little and he seemed to be without am- 
bition. His nature seemed asleep. If he had died in i860 
he would have filled an obscure grave. But at the outbreak 
of the Civil War he awoke to new life and his great strength 
and power as a man began to appear. He went into the war 
believing that the North was right and that the Union must 
be saved. 

He began as a captain, but was quickly made a general. 
After the success at Fort Donelson he became a central figure 
of the war. In stature he was short and he was slightly 
built. In his bearing and in his dealings with men he was 
simple, honest, and unpretending. If he was ever troubled 
by fear, nobody detected it ; for he would watch the progress 
of a bloody battle as quietly and as calmly as an ordinary man 
would watch a game of chess. His perseverance in battle 
was perhaps greater than that of any other general that ever 
lived. Whether fortune was on his side or against him made 
little difiference; he fought until the enemy was crushed and 
victory was complete. 

Battle of Shiloh. After the fall of Fort Donelson the Con- 
federate troops in the West were compelled, of course, to move 
their line of defense farther south. Their rallying-point was 
now at Corinth (map, p. 316), a great railroad center in north- 
ern Mississippi. Here there was a large army under the com- 
mand of Albert Sidney Johnston, one of the ablest of the 
Southern generals. The Union army, after its success at 
Donelson, was led by Grant up the Tennessee to Pittsburgh 
Landing (map, p. 316), near Shiloh Church. Here Grant 
was to be joined by General Ruell. But before Buell arrived 
Johnston suddenly attacked (April 6) the Union army, and on 
the first day of the battle drove Grant from his position. On 
the morning of the 7th, however, Buell arrived with fresh 
troops and saved the L^nion army from defeat. 



3i6 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The battle of Shiloh was hard fought on both sides. The 
Confederates lost Johnston, whose nobleness of soul shone to 
the last moment of his life. While he was lying on the field 
suiTering, he sent his surgeon to attend to the wounds of a 
l/nion soldier not far away ; and while the surgeon was giving 
relief to an enemy, the brave general bled to death. After 
Johnston's death Beauregard took command of the Confeder- 




The War in the West 

ate forces and led them back to Corinth. But they were not 
permitted to remain there, for General Halleck, the com- 
mander of the armies of the West, followed them with a large 
force and compelled them to move (May 30) farther south. 

Bragg 's Raid into Kentucky; Murfreesboro. After the 
battle of Shiloh it was several months before there was any 
more desperate fighting in the West between the land forces. 
In the fall the Confederate general Bragg passed the Union 
lines and made a raid into Kentucky. He was moving rapidly 



THE WAR IN THE WEST 



317 



northward when he was met by Buell near Perryville (Octo- 
ber 8) and driven back into Tennessee. On the last day of 
the year, Bragg, while in winter quarters at Murfreesboro, 
was attacked by the Union general Rosecrans. After one of 
the most bloody battles of the war the Confederate troops 
withdrew from the field, although it would hardly be correct 
to say that they were defeated. 

Opening the Mississippi. At the beginning of 1862 the 
Confederates controlled the Mississippi from Columbus, in 




Farragut's Fleet Passing the Forts Below New Orleans 

Kentucky, to the mouth of the river. After the fall of Donel- 
son, however, Columbus was abandoned, and the Confederates 
moved down to Island Number 10. Here, while the battle 
of Shiloh was raging (April 7), they were attacked by Foote 
with gunboats and by Pope with a land force, and were driven 
ft-om their position. Two months later Fort Pillow and 
Memphis were abandoned by the Confederates. The Mis- 
sissippi was now controlled by the Union forces as far south 
as Vicksburg. 

While the upper Mississippi was being opened by Foote, the 
lower Mississippi was being opened by Admiral Farragut, 
who in April entered the mouth of the river with a great fleet, 



3i8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

his purpose being to capture New Orleans, the largest city 
of the Confederacy. Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip 
guarded the river on the west and east (map, p. 316). Across 
the river between the forts were stretched enormous chains 
to prevent the passing of the enemy's vessels. Above the 
forts was a flotilla of Confederate gunboats. In spite of 
forts and chains and gunboats, Farragut forced his way up 
the river to New Orleans and captured it (April 25). He 
then continued up the river and captured Baton Rouge. The 
Union forces now had full control of the Mississippi, except- 
ing the stretch between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What was the plan of campaign for the Union forces? 

2. Give an account of the capture of Fort Donelson. What effect 
did the capture of this fort have? Sketch the life of General Grant 
up to 1861. 

3. Give an account of the battle of Shiloh. 

4. Describe the military operations of Bragg in 1862. 

5. How was the Mississippi opened at the North? At the South? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1588, 1781, 1783, 1861. 

2. Persons: Lafayette, George Rogers Clark, Cornwallis, John 
Quincy Adams, Clay, Calhoun, Davis. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Invincible Armada; " Uncle Tom's 
Cabin"; the Ordinance of 1787. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Wars since 1783; Steps in the Forma- 
tion of the Union; Agriculture; Manufacturing. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Capture of Fort Donelson: The Civil War, 60-75. 

(2) Grant's Account of the Battle of Shiloh: The Civil War, 

75-84. 

(3) The Peninsular Campaign: The Civil War, 1 13-120. 

(4) Opening of the Lower Mississippi : The Civil War, 98- 
113; Hitchcock, 288-293. 

(5) Ulysses S Grant: Faris, 291-306. 



XLIV 
THE WAR IN THE EAST 

In the last chapter we followed the course of the war in the 
West through the year 1862. In this chapter we shall have an ac- 
count of the fighting in the East through the year 1862 and a part 
of 1863. 

The Merrimac and the Monitor. In the East the country 
at the beginning of 1862 was anxiously waiting for McClellan 
to lead his splendid army against Richmond. But more 
than two months passed before the slow and cautious gen- 
eral began to advance. In the meantime there occurred 
(March 9) in Hampton Roads, at the mouth of the James 
River, one of the most interesting events of the war. This 
was the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac. The latter 
was an ironclad ram which the Confederates fitted out to de- 
stroy the ships of the Union navy stationed in Chesapeake 
Bay. On March 8 the Merrimac attacked the Cumberland. 
The battle was between an ironclad and a wooden ship. The 
shot from the Ciiuthcrland glanced from the iron sides of the 
Merrimac like so many peas ; but when the iron beak of the 
Merrimac rammed the wooden vessel in the side, it made a 
great hole through w^hich water rushed, and the Cumberland, 
with all on board, went down. Next the Merrimac attacked 
another wooden vessel, the Congress, and it too went down. 

The next day (March 9), as the Merrimac was going forth 
to renew its work of destruction, there hove in sight a strange- 
looking craft, which was likened by some to " a cheese-box 
on a raft " and by others to " a tin can on a shingle." The 
new-comer was the Monitor, a low-decked, ironclad vessel 
with a revolving turret carrying heavy guns. She had been 
fitted out hurriedly in New York and had come down to 

319 



320 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



fight the Merrimac. The Httle Monitor at once gave battle 
to the Confederate ram. The fight was now between two 
ironclads. It was a gallant struggle on both sides, but neither 
vessel won a decided victory. Nevertheless the Merrimac 



^^ ■^^ -H 




The Monitor and the Mciriinac 



put back to Norfolk and did no further mischief to the Union 
navy. 

Peninsular Campaign. A few days after the battle of the 
ironclads McGlellan began his long-delayed advance upon 
Richmond. Leaving Washington (March 17), he took his 
army by water to Fortress Monroe, from which place he 
marched his troops up the peninsula that lies between the 
York and James rivers. He spent a month in preparing for 
the capture of Yorktown; but, just as he was ready to at- 
tack, the Confederates slipped away. McClellan pursued 
them, and engaged them in battle at Williamsburg. At night 
the Confederates again slipped away and marched toward 
Richmond. McClellan followed them until they were within 
seven miles of the Confederate capital. He took a position 
on the Chickahominy River (map, p. 322) near Fair Oaks, 
where he was attacked (May 31) by the Confederates, who 
on the first day of the battle were successful, but on the sec- 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 321 

ond day were defeated. In the battle General Joseph E. 
Johnston, the commander of the Confederates, was wounded. 
General Robert E. Lee was appointed in his place. 

Lee had been trained for the army at West Point, where 
he was graduated in 1829, second in his class. He served 
in the Mexican War under Scott and rendered valuable serv- 
ice at Vera Cruz. At the outbreak of the war he was an 
ofificer in the Union army and was in line for promotion to 
the highest rank. Indeed, the chief command of the L-nion 
forces was practically offered to him. But he refused the 
oft'er. He loved the Union, but he could not, he said, lead 
an army of Invasion into his native State. So he left the 
Lhiion army and went over to the Confederacy. In doing 
this he followed what to him seemed the true path of duty. 
Lee proved to be a tower of strength to the Confederacy. 
His high character and noble purposes won the esteem and ad- 
miration of friend and foe, and he managed the Southern 
forces with such ability that he secured for himself a fore- 
most rank among the great generals of history. 

It had been planned that in the attack upon Richmond 
McClellan should be assisted by McDowell, who had an army 
of 40,000 men. But this plan was brought to naught by 
" Stonewall " Jackson, perhaps the greatest military genius 
produced by the Civil War. This daring and brilliant general, 
with 15,000 men, rushed down the Shenandoah valley, carry- 
ing everything before him. He cleared the valley of L^nion 
troops and marched his army so close to Washington that the 
safety of the capital was threatened. Lincoln was greatly 
alarmed by Jackson's movements, and he recalled ^McDowell 
to protect the capital. 

Jackson, after giving the people of Washington this scare, 
made his way back to Richmond and joined Lee in the strug- 
gle against McClellan, who was greatly crippled by the ab- 
sence of McDowell's army. On June 25 fighting began at 
Mechanicsville and continued in the neighborhood of Rich- 
mond for seven days. During this long battle there was 
hard fighting on both sides, and the loss of life was very 



322 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



great. The victory — if there was a victory at all — was on 
the side of the Confederates, for they checked the advance 




The War in the East 

of the Union army and saved their capital. So McClellan's 
Peninsular Campaign ended in failure. 

Second Battle of Manassas ; Antietam ; Fredericksburg. 
— Lincoln, having now lost confidence in AlcClellan, caused a 
new army — the Army of Virginia — to be organized, and 
placed Pope (p. 317) at its head. He met (August 29-30) 
the Confederates under Lee on the old battlefield of Manassas, 
and was defeated. In September McClellan was placed 
in (Command " of all the troops for the defense of the capital '' ; 
and Pope, relieved at his own request, was assigned to the 
Northwest. 

After his victory at Manassas, Lee crossed the Potomac 
and marched into Maryland. McClellan followed, and on 
the i6th and 17th of September a great battle was fought at 
Antietam Creek. The losses on both sides were enormous, 
but the loss of the Confederates was the heavier. Lee re- 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 323 

crossed the Potomac, but McClellan failed to pursue him. 

Because McClellan did not follow up his victory at An- 
tietam he was again removed, and the command was given 
to General Burnside ; but the choice was most unfortunate for 
the Union army. Burnside had no confidence in himself, and 
his soldiers had no confidence in him. He attacked the Con- 
federates under Lee (December 13) at Fredericksburg (map, 
p. 322), and was defeated with terrible slaughter. Burnside 
was soon removed, and General Hooker — " Fighting Joe 
Hooker " — was appointed in his place. 

The Emancipation Proclamation. When Lee was invading 
Maryland, Lincoln made " a solemn vow before God " that 
if the Confederates were driven back he would celebrate the 
victory by giving the slaves their freedom. Accordingly, five 
days after Lee was defeated at Antietam, Lincoln issued the 
Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that if the seceded 
States did not lay down their arms and return to the Union 
before January i, 1863, all persons held as slaves within the 
Confederate lines should be thenceforth and forever free. 
This proclamation did not apply to the slave States of Dela- 
ware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, for these were 
loyal to the Union. Nor did it apply to the western part of 
Virginia or to such parts of the Confederacy as were under 
the control of Union troops. Lincoln issued this proclama- 
tion simply as a war measure ; for under the Constitution 
he had no right to give the slaves their freedom. The proc- 
lamation was issued in order to save the Union. If the South 
had laid down its arms and come back into the Union, not a 
single slave would have been taken from his master. But 
the Confederacy did not heed the proclamation. It preferred 
to go on with the fight. 

Battle of Chancellorsville. No wonder the Confederacy 
refused to lay down its arms on January i, 1863, in accord- 
ance with the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation ; for 
at that time the prospects of the South were very bright, while 
a deep gloom overspread the North because of the terrible 



324 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



disaster at Fredericksburg. And the gloom of the North was 
presently to become deeper. 

When Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac 
it was disheartened and sulky and was dropping to pieces. 
Desertions were at the rate of two hundred in a day. Eighty- 
five thousand officers and men were absent from duty with- 
out leave. But Hooker was a good manager and a strict dis- 
ciplinarian. By the beginning of April he had his army well 
organized and was ready for hard fighting. On May i 

Hooker, with more than 100,000 
men, advanced upon Lee, who was 
at Chancellorsville with an army of 
60,000 men. Lee, at great risk, di- 
vided his army, giving a portion of 
it to Jackson and ordering him to 
make a roundabout march and at- 
tack Hooker on the Union right. 
While the Union soldiers on the 
right were cooking their food, 
pitching their tents, and, in some 
cases, playing cards, " there came 
upon them a sudden irruption of 
rabbits, birds, deer, wild creatures 
of the woods fleeing from some 
danger behind." The danger from which the frightened crea- 
tures were fleeing was Stonewall Jackson, dashing through the 
woods with 26,000 men. He fell upon Hooker's right wing 
and crushed it at a blow, throwing the entire Union army into 
confusion. But it was Jackson's last charge, for in the battle 
he received a mortal wound. 

Lee completed the work begun by Jackson and carried the 
Confederates on to victory. The defeat at Chancellorsville 
was even more disastrous than the defeat at Fredericksburg, 
and when the news of the battle reached the North, discour- 
agement was seen written on every brow. Many men who 
were in earnest in their support of the war gave up all idea 
that the South could be conquered. The darkest days for 




Robert E. Lee 

Born in Virginia, in 1807; died 
in 1870. 



THE WAR IN THE EAST 325 

the Union were the days just after the battle of Chancellors- 
ville. 

Naval Warfare. Since the Confederacy had no navy 
worthy of the name, the naval operations of the Civil War 
were not of very great importance. The chief task of the 
Union navy was to maintain an effective blockade. This was 
no easy task, for there was a coast-line of 1,900 miles to be 
guarded. By the end of the first year of the war most of the 
sea-coast from Norfolk to the Gulf was in Union hands, and 
by the end of the second year the Gulf ports also were con- 
trolled by Union war-ships. The blockade was in the main 
a success. There was, to be sure, considerable blockade run- 
ning — dashing past the blockading vessels under the cover 
of darkness, — but the great volume of the trade of the South 
was destroyed by the blockade. 

The South in turn managed to inflict great injury upon the 
trade of the North. She purchased abroad a small fleet of 
armed cruisers, and sent them roving about the seas to cap- 
ture American merchant-ships wherever found. The most 
famous of these commerce-destroyers was the Alabama, com- 
manded by Raphael Semmes. This vessel was built in Eng- 
land, with the full knowledge of the English government. 
She was manned by English sailors, but commanded by Con- 
federate officers. The Alabama cruised in the Atlantic Ocean 
for two years and captured sixty-six merchant-vessels. In 
June, 1864, she was sunk off Cherbourg (France) by the 
American man-of-war Kearsargc, commanded by John A. 
Winslow. The Shenandoah was another famous commerce- 
destroyer. She was purchased in England and armed with 
guns delivered to her by a British ship at a barren island 
near Madeira. She cruised in the Pacific, and destroyed 
thirty-eight vessels before the end of the Civil War. 

After the war Great Britain was asked to pay damages for 
the injury inflicted by these vessels upon our commerce. 
Great Britain at first refused to pay damages, but in 1871, by 
the treaty of Washington, all disputed questions were sub- 
mitted to arbitration. Accordingly in 1872 a board of arbitra- 



\ 

326 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES "^ 

tion met at Geneva and awarded $15,500,000 to be distributed 
among tbose whose ships and property had been destroyed. 
This is known as the Geneva Aivard. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Describe the encounter between the Merrimac and the Monitor. 

2. Give an account of McClellan's Peninsular Campaign. Sketch the 
life of General Lee up to 1862. 

3. When, by whom, and with what results was the second battle of 
Manassas fought? The battle of Antietam Creek? The Ijattle at Fred- 
ericksburg? 

4. When and under what circumstances was the Emancipation 
Proclamation issued? What were the provisions of this proclama- 
tion? 

5. Give an account of the battle at Chancellorsville in May, 1863. 

6. How did the South manage to inflict injury upon the commerce 
of the North? 

7. Give an account of the treaty of Washington and the Geneva 
Award. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1803, 1846, 1850, 1861, 1862. 

2. Persons : James Oglethorpe, Marquette, La Salle, Garrison, Fill- 
more, Davis, Grant. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Pennsylvania Dutch ; the Scotch- 
Irish ; the Northwest Territory; the Convention of 1787; the Capture 
of Mason and Slidell. 

4. Reviews o.f Great Subjects: Wars since 1789; Slavery; Discovery 
and Exploration. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Monitor and the Merrimac: Hitchcock. 274-286; 
The Civil War, 84-98. 

(2) Lee and Grant: Chandler, 274-287. 

(3) The Emancipation Proclamation: McLaughlin, 292-293. 

(4) The Peninsular Campaign: The Civil War, 1 13-120. 

(5) Richmond Scenes in 1862: The Civil War, 150-160. 

(6) The Alabama and the Kearsarge: The Civil War, 161- 

173- 

(7) Robert E. Lee: Faris, 216-226. 



XLV 
THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 

In the last two chapters we followed the course of the Civil 
War from the capture of Fort Donelson, in February, 1862, by the 
Union forces, to the defeat of the Army of the Potomac at Chan- 
cellorsville in May, 1863. For the people of the North this was a 
period of great doubt and uncertainty; for, although during this 
time the Union forces in the West were in the main successful, in 
the East they were in the main unsuccessful. In this chapter we 
shall follow the story of the war to its close, and as we proceed we 
shall find the North growing more hopeful at every step. 

Battle of Gettysburg. After his great victory at Chan- 
cellorsville, Lee again crossed the Potomac. This time he 
led his army through Maryland into Pennsylvania, advancing 
as far as Chambersburg and Carlisle, and even shaking the 
houses in Harrisburg with the roar of his cannon. It was 
his plan to frighten and, if possible, to capture Philadelphia 
and New York. The North had good reason to be alarmed 
by Lee's bold movements, and the Army of the Potomac, un- 
der the command of General Meade, was hurried North to 
check the Confederate advance. Meade faced Lee near the 
town of Gettysburg (map, p. 322) on July i, 1863, and there 
followed the greatest battle of the Civil War. Both armies 
were in excellent condition for fighting, and both sides fought 
as if everything depended upon the outcome of the battle. 
The fighting continued for three days. 

On the afternoon of the third day General Pickett made a 
most desperate effort to break through the Union lines, but 
was unsuccessful. After the failure of Pickett's charge the 
Confederates gave up the fight. Lee led his army back into 
Virginia, where he remained undisturbed until the spring of 

327 



328 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

1864. In the stubborn and bloody battle of Gettysburg the 
Union army lost in killed, wounded, and missing, 23,000 out 
of 93.500 men ; the Confederates lost 20,500 out of 70,000. 

Fall of Vicksburg. Along with the victory at Gettysburg 
came another great Union victory at Vicksburg. It will be re- 
membered that after the capture of New Orleans by Farragut 
in April, 1862, the Mississippi from Vicksburg to Port Hud- 
son still remained in the possession of the Confederates. In 
the fall of 1862 General Grant set out to capture Vicksburg 
and Port Hudson and thus open the Mississippi throughout 
its entire length. His first attempt failed, but failure with 
Grant was only an inspiration to fight harder than ever. He 
pushed on with his plans for the capture of the Gibraltar of 
■the West — as Vicksburg was called - — and before the end 
.of May (1863) had invested the city with a large army. For 
weeks he stormed the place with shot and shell by day and 
by night. At last, when food was gone and further resistance 
seemed useless, Vicksburg surrendered, and 30,000 Confed- 
erate soldiers were made prisoners of war. The surrender 
was made July 4, only a day after the Confederates were 
turned back at Gettysburg. On July 9 Port Hudson fell. 
The Mississippi from its source to its mouth was now under 
the control of the Union forces. Its waters, as Lincoln said, 
flowed unvexed to the sea. Thus by the capture of Vicks- 
burg General Grant cut the Confederacy in twain and accom- 
plished one of the great purposes of the Union plan of cam- 
paign. 

Chickamauga and Chattanooga. With \^icksburg and the 
Mississippi safe in their hands, the Union forces were free 
to advance eastward and help Rosecrans, who was soon to 
be in sore need of help. For six months after the battle of 
Murfreesboro (p. 316) Rosecrans made no forward move- 
ment. In June (1863), however, he marched against Bragg 
with a superior force, and on September 8 drove him from 
Chattanooga (map, p. 316). This city was a stronghold of 
great importance. It was the natural highway between Ten- 
nessee and Georgia, and at the time was the chief railway 



THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 329 

center of the South. Bragg, after withdrawing from Chat- 
tanooga, took a position close by in Chickamauga (map, p. 316) 
valley. Here Rosecrans and Bragg met and fought a battle 
that lasted two days. On the afternoon of the second day 
the Confederates drove the right wing of the Union army 
from the field, and it looked as if their victory would be 
overwhelming. But the left wing of the Union army was 
commanded by General Thomas, one of the ablest and brav- 
est generals of the Civil War. Thomas held the left wing 
firm and fast, and saved the Union army from a disgraceful 
rout, although he could not save it from defeat. At night 
the Union troops withdrew to Chattanooga, where they were 
surrounded by the army of Bragg and held until they were 
threatened with starvation. 

Before it was too late, fresh troops arrived for the relief 
of Chattanooga. Grant was placed in command of all the 
forces and was hurried to the scene. Fighting Joe Hooker 
came with an army from Virginia. Sherman also hastened 
with an army from the West. Thomas took command of the 
army of Rosecrans. 

On November 23 the Union forces under Grant began to 
fight their way out of Chattanooga. On November 24 Hooker 
fought the battle of Lookout Mountain — the Battle Above 
the Clouds — and drove the Confederates from their posi- 
tion. The next day Thomas and Sherman attacked Mis- 
sionary Ridge and captured it at the point of the bayonet. 
Bragg, now beaten in every direction, retreated to Dalton, 
in Georgia. 

Thus at Chattanooga Grant led the Union army to victory, 
and opened a doorway through which Union troops from the 
West might pour into Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and 
Alabama. With the capture of Chattanooga the Union con- 
quest of the Mississippi valley was complete. There remained 
to be conquered only the seaboard States. 

Sherman's March to the Sea. Grant's great services in the 
West were highly appreciated by Lincoln. " I like that 
man," said the President, " for he wins battles." After his 



330 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

crowning success at Chattanooga, Grant was called to Wash- 
ington, and in March (1864) was given the command of all 
the armies of the United States, and had conferred upon him 
the rank of lieutenant-general, a title that had hitherto been 
held only by Washington and Scott. Grant's place in the 
West was given to Sherman, who had his headquarters at 
Chattanooga. 

Grant and Sherman now agreed upon a final plan of cam- 
paign. According to this plan, Grant was to fight Lee in 
Virginia, while Sherman was to attack Joseph E. Johnston ^ 
at Dalton, conquer Georgia, and move northward with the 
purpose of joining the Union army in Virginia and assisting 
in the capture of Richmond. Both generals were to begin 
their movements on the same day, and both were to keep on 
fighting continuously, regardless of the season or weather. 

Accordingly, on the appointed day (May 5, 1864) Sherman 
marched against Johnston at Dalton and drove him from 
his position. He then pushed on to Atlanta, a great railway 
center which furnished to the Confederate armies large sup- 
plies of ammunition and clothing. The road at Atlanta was 
rough and mountainous and Sherman was compelled to march 
slowly. And he was also compelled to do much hard fighting 
on the way, for Johnston was a skilful general and he gave 
battle to Sherman wherever he could do so to advantage. Be- 
tween Dalton and Atlanta four sharp battles — Resaca, 
Dallas, Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw Mountain — were 
fought. While Johnston was thus stubbornly opposing the 
advance of the Union army, he was relieved of his command 
and General J. B. Hood was appointed in his place. Hood 
made a brave attempt to check Sherman and save Atlanta, but 
failed. On September 2, 1864, Sherman took possession of 
the city and Hood was forced to retire. 

After withdrawing from Atlanta, Hood marched toward 
Nashville, hoping that Sherman would follow. But, since 
Thomas was at Nashville, Sherman did not follow. He be- 

1 Bragg had by this time been removed from the command at Dalton. 



THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 331 

lieved Thomas could take care of himself, and in this he was 
right; for, when Hood attacked Nashville, Thomas sallied 
forth (December 15-16, 1864) and utterly routed Hood's 
army. 

With Hood's army out of the way, Sherman had no foe of 
any strength to oppose him. On November 16 he started with 
60,000 men on his famous march from Atlanta to the sea. 
His army moved in four columns by four parallel roads. On 
the march it cut telegraph wires, tore up railroad tracks, and 
burned bridges. The soldiers helped themselves freely along 
the route to grain and meat and vegetables, and took all the 
horses, mules, and wagons they needed. In its path the army 
laid waste a belt of country sixty miles wide at its widest 
point and three hundred miles long. It was a cruel thing to 
do, but, as Sherman said, " war is hell." Nothing impeded 
the progress of the army, and on the 21st of December it en- 
tered the city of Savannah in triumph. Sherman at once sent 
a letter to Lincoln, saying, " I beg leave to present to you as 
a Christmas gift the city of Savannah." 

Sherman remained in Savannah about a month, and then, 
according to the plan of campaign, moved northward to join 
Grant in Virginia. He was complete master of the country 
through which he passed. By the last of March he had sub- 
dued South Carolina and had advanced far into North Caro- 
lina. With the exception of Virginia and a part of North 
Carolina, the entire Confederacy was now in the control of 
the Union forces. 

Grant's Campaign Against Lee. While Sherman was 
making himself master of Georgia and the Carolinas, Grant 
was in Virginia, pounding away at Lee. On May 4, 1864, 
Grant, with 130,000 men, set out to capture Richmond. He 
crossed the Rapidan River and plunged into the forest known 
as the Wilderness (map. p. S-~)' where he met Lee, who 
had only 70,000 men. The fighting in the woods was fierce, 
and the loss of life on both sides was frightful. From the 
Wilderness Grant pushed on to Spottsylvania Court-House, 
where he fought the Confederates for five days, losing thou- 



332 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

sands of his men, but failing to defeat the enemy. But, 
whether losing or winning, Grant pressed on, his plan being 
to defeat Lee by incessant attacks. From Spottsylvania he 
pushed forward and attacked the Confederates at Cold Har- 
bor, where he was beaten back with terrible slaughter. He 
now hurried past Richmond, with the view of capturing 
Petersburg, which was simply the back door of Richmond. 
But Petersburg had been reached by Lee first, and a long 
siege was necessary before it could be taken (map, p. 322). 

While Grant was laying siege to Petersburg, the Shenan- 
doah valley was the scene of stirring events. In July Lee 
ordered General Early to move down the valley with 20,000 
men and threaten Washington, hoping that in this way he 
would draw Grant from the siege of Petersburg. Early made 
a bold dash down the valley and at one time was within six 
miles of Washington. He even invaded Pennsylvania and 
set fire to the town of Chambersburg. General Philip Sheri- 
dan was sent after Early with orders from Grant to " go in." 
Sheridan " went in '' with a vengeance. He defeated Early 
at Winchester and sent him " whirling up the valley." He 
then laid waste the beautiful valley, the devastation being so 
complete that " a crow flying over the country would need to 
carry his provisions with him." 

Early was quickly reinforced after his defeat at Winches- 
ter, and during Sheridan's absence he attacked the Union 
army at Cedar Creek and defeated it and sent it fleeing down 
the valley in confusion. Sheridan at the time was at Win- 
chester, thirteen miles away, and hearing 

The terrible grumble and rumble and roar, 
Telling the battle was on once more, 

put spurs to his horse and galloped toward his army. As he 
dashed along, he met some of his men running from the 
enemy. To the fugitives he cried out : " Never mind, boys, 
we are all right ! We will whip them yet ! " These words 
of encouragement caused the soldiers to turn and follow their 



THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 



333 



leader, who renewed the battle against Early and defeated 
him. 

After Sheridan had finished his work in the Shenandoah 
valley he returned to Petersburg to assist Grant. The siege 
of the stronghold continued for several months. Grant drew 
his lines ever tighter and tighter, and at last (April 3, 1865) 
Petersburg fell, and with it fell Richmond. 

The fall of Richmond marked the end of the war and the 
downfall of the Confederacy. Lee, after leaving the city he 
had defended so bravely for nearly four years, attempted to 
break through the Union lines ; but he was checked at every 
step by a greatly superior force, and there was nothing for 
him to do but lay down his arms. On April 9, 1865, at Ap- 
pomattox Court-House, he surrendered to Grant his army of 
28,000 men. As he took leave of his soldiers he said : " Men, 
we have fought through the war together. I have done the 
best I could for you." Grant in his hour of triumph was 
courteous and kind. He did not require Lee to give up his 
sword. He allowed his soldiers to keep their horses, saying 




Review of the Union Troops at the Close of the War 



334 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

they would need them to work their Httle farms. He gave 
the conquered army enough food to last five days. 

After the fall of Richmond, President Davis, with his 
cabinet and clerks, went to Charlotte, North Carolina ; but 
the surrender of Johnston to Sherman near Raleigh (April 26) 
made it necessary for the Confederate government to disband 
and flee. Davis made his way to Georgia, but was captured at 
Irwinville (May 10, 1865). He was sent to Fortress Monroe, 
in Virginia, where he was held a prisoner until 1867, when he 
was released on bail. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What was Lee's purpose in invading Pennsylvania? Give an ac- 
count of the battle of Gettysburg. 

2. Give an account of the fall of Vicksburg. Why was the cap- 
ture of this city an important event? 

3. Give an account of the battle of Chickamauga. What great service 
did General Thomas render in the battle? Give an account of the 
battle of Chattanooga. 

4. What was the final plan of campaign mapped out by Grant and 
Sherman? Give an account of the fighting between Chattanooga and 
Atlanta. Describe Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea. 

5. Give an account of Grant's campaign against Lee from the battle 
of the Wilderness to the beginning of the siege of Petersburg. De- 
scribe Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah valley. What was the 
closing event of the war? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1607. 1776, 1825, i860, 1861, 1865. 

2. Persons : John Smith, James Madison, Monroe, Van Buren, Gar- 
rison, Pierce, Douglas, Lincoln, Buchanan, John Brown, Lee, Grant. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Declaration of Independence; the 
Whisky Insurrection; the Spoils System; the Capture of Mason and 
Slidell ; the Mcrrhnac and the Monitor. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Wars since 1789; The French in 
North America; Education; The Presidents: their Election and In- 
auguration. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Gettysburg: Hitchcock, 306-328. 

(2) Vicksburg: Hitchcock, 295-305. 

(3) The Last Scene: Hitchcock, 329-346. 

(4) Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg: The Civil War, 180-185. 



THE CLOSE OF THE STRUGGLE 



335 



(5) The Surrender: The Civil War, 196-210. 

(6) Read in the class, " O Captain ! My Captain ! " : The 
Civil War, 221 ; also Sheridan's Ride : Stories of the Re- 
public, 394-397; also Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg: 
Lane and Hill, 147-148. 



IMPORTANT MOVEMENTS 



IN 



THE WAR OF SECESSION 



WEST 



EAST 



Border fighting in 
West Virginia, Kentucky 
and Missouri 



® 



'61 



© 



Fort Sumter 
Bull Run 
Coast Battles 



Forts Henry and 
Donelson 
Island No. 10 
Shiloh 
New Orleans 
Corinth 

Union side successful 
in the West 



© '62 



© Peninsula Campaign 
© JacUson in the 
Shenandoah 
© Lee's First Invasion 
© Fredericksburg 



Confederate side successful 
in the East 



Vicksburg © 

Port Hudson ® 

Mississippi River open 

Chickamauga © 

Chattanooga ® 

Central gateway open 



'63 



Chancel lorsvi lie 
Lee's Second Invasion 
and Gettysburg 



Union Side has the advantage 
both in the Eastand in the West 



Sherman's March 



'64 



Grant vs. Lee jo 
© ® Wilderness Campaign 

( Desperate fighting 
Victories forooth sides) 



from Chattanooga ® 

to Atlanta and Savannah in the East 
Nashville ® ® Sheridan In the 

Shenandoah 



(u) Union vidoriea 

(c) Confederate victories 



'65 



Grant, Sherman.Thomas and 
Sheridan all converging to- 
ward Lee's Army and Richmond 
Surrender of the Confederate Armies 



XLVI 

WAR-TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 

In the last four chapters we had an account of the fighting during 
the Civil War. In this chapter we shall learn of some important 
events that occurred during the war but that were not of a strictly 
military nature. 

Cost of the War. The war saved the Union and gave 
freedom to the slaves. The price paid in blood and treastire 
was enormous. The cost in lives was far greater than the 
cost of all our former wars put together. On the Union 
side more than 360,000 men were killed in battle or died of 
wounds or diseases. How many gave up their lives for the 
Confederacy can not be accurately stated, but it is likely that 
the South suffered almost as heavily in killed and wounded 
as the North. 

The cost of the Civil War in money was tremendous. 
It has been estimated that the total cost was $8,000,000,000. 
the cost to the Union being $5,000,000,000 and the cost to 
the South being $3,000,000,000. This estimate includes not 
only the money spent in conducting military operations, but 
also the destruction to property and other losses caused by 
the war. The cost of the war to the South was greater in 
proportion than it was to the North ; for in the South stores 
of cotton, crops, cattle, railroads, bridges, farm-houses, vil- 
lages, and cities were destroyed. The loss to masters catised 
by the emancipation of slaves amounted to about $2,000,- 
000,000. 

How the Expenses of the War Were Met. The expenses 
of the Union army were at times more than $2,000,000 a 
day. How were such great expenses met? In the first place, 
taxes were made heavier. In 1861, even before the war ac- 

336 



WAR-TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 7,2,7 

tually began, Congress passed the Morrill Tariff Bill, which 
greatly increased the duties collected on imported goods. The 
high tariff was soon followed by an internal revenue law, 
which placed a heavy tax upon incomes and upon almost 
everything that men eat, drink, wear, or use. But the ex- 
penses of the war were so great that, no matter how heavily 
the taxes were laid on, enough money by taxation could not 
be raised. So the government had to adopt other means of 
raising revenue. 

In 1862 Congress provided for the issuance of $150,000,000 
in United States notes — greenbacks they were called because 
of their color. These notes were simply paper money, but 
Congress declared them to be lawful money for the payment 
of all debts except duties upon imports and interest upon the 
public debt. The amount of this paper money was increased 
from time to time until it reached the sum of $450,000,000. 
But large issues of paper money and heavy taxation com- 
bined could not supply the government with all the money 
it needed. So it was compelled to borrow large sums by is- 
suing bonds. It began (July, 1861) by borrowing $250,- 
000,000, and by the time the war was over its debt amounted 
to more than $2,500,000,000. 

In order to aid the government still further in its financial 
plans, Congress in 1863 established a system of National 
Banks. Under the law of 1863 banking companies were al- 
lowed to deposit bonds of the United States with the Treasury 
Department at Washington and receive bank-notes equal to 
ninety per cent of the face value of the bonds. These bank- 
notes were issued in large amounts, and helped greatly in 
supplying the North with money. 

The South found it very hard to raise money for the sup- 
port of the war. It levied a tax on property and it borrowed 
money, but the sums that could be raised by taxation and by 
borrowing were not very great. The chief reliance of the 
South was upon the issuance of paper money. For a while 
this paper money circulated at its face value; but in 1863 it 



338 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

began to fall in value. In March, 1865, sixty dollars of Con- 
federate paper money was worth only one dollar in gold, and 
in the last days of the war the paper money of the South 
was worthless. 

Keeping the Ranks Filled. Altogether the enlistments on 
both sides for the whole period of the war numbered about 
3,000,000. At one time the troops of the Union army num- 
bered about 900,000 men and the Confederate troops about 
700,000 men. How were these great armies raised and how 
were the ranks kept filled? At first troops in the North and 
also in the South were secured by calling for 'volunteers. 
But before the war was over both sides resorted to the draft; 
that is, the War Department drew by lot the names of a num- 
ber of persons equal to the number of soldiers required in a 
given locality and compelled the persons thus drafted to join 
the army, willing or unwilling. This method of enrolling men 
is called conscription. 

In 1862 the Confederate Congress passed a conscription 
act, drafting all men between the ages of eighteen and thirty- 
five. Later all between eighteen and forty-five were drafted. 
In 1863 the North also brought the draft into use. In sev- 
eral places the draft was very unpopular and was forcibly 
resisted. In New York City, when officers undertook to en- 
list men by means of the draft, rioting began, and for four 
days the city was at the mercy of a mob. The number of 
soldiers raised by conscription for the Union army was very 
small when compared with the number of volunteers. 

Women in the Civil War. Throughout the long struggle 
the women both in the North and in the South supported 
faithfully the men at the front, making sacrifices and render- 
ing services that won the admiration of the world. Women 
took the place of men on the farms, in the factories, at the 
counter, and in the school-room. In hundreds of cities and 
towns there were soldiers' aid societies composed of women 
who knitted, rolled bandages and prepared necessities and 
gifts for the boys on the battle line. Thousands of women 



WAR-TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 



339 



went to the scene of war, where, serving as nurses, they 
risked their lives and endured the hardships of war. Presi- 
dent Lincoln felt that he could not praise the war-work of 
the women too highly. "If all," he said, " that has been said 
by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise 
of women were applied to the women of America, it would 
not do them justice for their conduct during this war." The 




Caring for the Sick Soldiers 
The picture shows Mrs. Hayes, wife of President Hayes, active as a war nurse. 

women of the South were as devoted as those of the North, 
and the praise due the Northern women for their sacrifices 
and deeds of mercy is due also to their Southern sisters. 

Industry During the Civil War. We saw that at the end 
of the Fifties (p. 291) the country was in a highly prosper- 
ous condition. In the North and in the West this prosperity 
continued even during the years of the war. In 1864 a 
speaker in Illinois drew the following picture of war-time 
industry : " Look over these prairies and observe everywhere 
the life and activity prevailing. See the railroads pressed 
beyond their capacity with the freight; the metropolis of the 
State [Chicago] rearing its stately buildings with a rapidity 
almost fabulous ; every smaller city, town, village, and hamlet 



340 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

within our borders all astir with improvement; every factory, 
mill, and machine-shop running with its full complement of 
hands ; the hum of industry in every household ; fuller gran- 
aries, and more prolific crops than ever before." 

But it was not thus in the South. Here business was al- 
most at a standstill, because the blockade (p. 310) prevented 
the planters from selling their cotton to foreign countries. 
Swift vessels, however, often broke through the blockade, 
taking out cotton that had been reduced by powerful presses 
to the smallest possible bulk. The cotton was exchanged in 
England and France for the things that the South most needed 
— for munitions of war, blankets, shoes, tea, soap, linen, silk, 
and, above all, for medicines. Besides the blockade trade, 
there was also a brisk overland trade between the North and 
the South during the war. The mill-owners in the North 
were willing to pay almost any price for cotton, and, in one 
way and another, they managed to buy large quantities of it. 
At one time the South was selling more cotton to the North 
by the overland routes than it was selling to Great Britain 
by running the blockade. 

Western Affairs during the War. Although the westward 
movement was checked during the war, it did not come to a 
complete standstill. In 1862 Congress passed the Homestead 
Act, which practically gave settlers their land free of cost. 
Under the provisions of this famous law, any head of a 
family, whether native or foreign born, could, by the payment 
of a small fee, become the owner of eighty or one hundred 
and sixty acres of land simply by living upon the land for 
five years and cultivating it. In 1862, also. Congress gave 
charters to several companies for building great railroads 
across the continent. Two years later it further encouraged 
the development of the West by passing an immigration law 
that exempted immigrants from military service and pro- 
vided means for assisting newly arrived foreigners to reach 
their destinations with as little trouble and expense as pos- 
sible. These laws did much to encourage Western settlement 
even while the war was going on. 



WAR-TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 341 

The discovery of new gold and silver-mines in the far 
Northwest during the war led to the settlement of that region. 
In 1863 Idaho was organized as a Territory, while Montana 
was made a Territory in 1864. In the same year Nevada 
(p. 290) was admitted to the Union. In 1863 Arizona was 
separated from New Mexico and made a Territory. 

Politics in War-Time. During the years of the Civil War 
the minds of men, both in the North and in the South, were 




Union and Confederate Soldiers Sharing Their Rations During a Truce 



fixed upon the struggle that was raging. People were all the 
time asking: "How is the war progressing? Is it being 
managed well or ill? Will the North win or will the South 
win?" Political questions, therefore, in those exciting times 
related chiefly to the war. 

In the South the management of the war rested upon the 
shoulders of Jefferson Davis. In the discharge of his duties 
Davis displayed great ability as a leader, although at times 
he acted in an arbitrary manner and was often called a tyrant. 
Upon the whole, the administration of Davis pleased the people 
of the South and they gave him their loyalty and support. 

In the North the burden of the war rested upon President 



342 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Lincoln. The great man attended to his duties with devotion 
and untiring patience, but he was not always supported as 
loyally as he should have been. Throughout the war he had 
trouble with a class called " Copperheads " — men who did 
not believe that the South could be conquered and who were 
for peace at almost any price. But Lincoln knew that he 
could not make peace with the South unless he acknowledged 
the independence of the Confederate States. " We are not 
fighting for slavery,'' said Davis in 1864; "we are fighting 
for independence." Lincoln did not believe the people of 
the North were willing to sacrifice the Union for the sake of 
peace. So he refused to listen to the Copperheads and went 
on with the war. 

Lincoln, like Davis, often acted in an arbitrary manner, 
and like Davis he was often called a tyrant. He sometimes 
did things that were not strictly in accordance with the Con- 
stitution. When he went contrary to the strict letter of the 
law he did so, he said, to save the nation. He felt that if he 
saved the nation he would save the Constitution with it, but 
that if the nation was lost the Constitution also would be lost. 
" Often a limb," he said, " must be amputated to save a life ; 
but a life is never wisely given to save a limb." 

Although Lincoln had many enemies, and although there 
was much dissatisfaction with his management of the war, 
he was nevertheless reelected in 1864 for a second term. At 
the same election Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was elected 
Vice-President. The platform upon which Lincoln went be- 
fore the people declared that the war must be carried on to 
the bitter end, and called for an amendment to the Constitu- 
tion that should prohibit slavery. So when Lincoln entered 
upon his second term (March 4, 1865) he was pledged to do 
two things : to fight the war until victory was won, and to try 
to bring about the abolition of slavery throughout the entire 
United States. He was not compelled to fight much longer ; 
for, as we have already learned, within a few weeks after his 
second inauguration the South laid down its arms. 

Death of Lincoln. Nor was the great President allowed 



WAR-TIMES NORTH AND SOUTH 343 

to go on with his plans for bringing about the abolition of 
slavery. For no sooner had the country begun to rejoice that 
the war was over and that " a healing time of peace " was at 
hand than it was plunged into gloom by the occurrence of an 
awful tragedy. On April 14, 1865, precisely four years after 
the fall of Fort Sumter and five days after Lee's surrender 
at Appomattox, President Lincoln, while sitting in his box in 
a theater in Washington, was shot in the head by a man who, 
in his sympathy for the South, had become a fanatic because 
the South had failed to win. Lincoln fell forward uncon- 
scious when he was shot, and never regained consciousness. 
He sank rapidly, and on the morning of April 15 he died. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What was the cost of the Civil War in human Hfe? What was 
the cost in money? 

2. Give a full account of the manner in which the expenses of the 
war were niet. 

3. How were the armies raised and how were the ranks kept filled? 

4. What was the condition of industry at the North during the war? 
What was the condition of industry at the South? Give an account 
of blockade-running. 

5. What progress was made in the development of the West during 
the war? 

6. Describe the political situation during the war. Give an account 
of the Presidential election of 1864. 

7. Give an account of Lincoln's death. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1643, 1763, 1789, 1820, i860, 1863, 1865 (2). 

2. Persons : Champlain, Hudson, Roger Williams, Washington, 
Franklin, Braddock, Wolfe, Hamilton, W. H. Harrison, Lincoln, Grant. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Patroons ; the Era of Good Feeling; 
the Monroe Doctrine; the Mcrrimac and the Monitor. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Wars since 1789; The Westward 
Movement; Presidents: their Election and Inauguration; Manufac- 
tures ; Commerce. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Trials and Results of the War: Eggleston, 346-352. 

(2) Read E. D. Fite's Industrial History of the Civil War. 

(3) Women's Work in the Civil War: Bruce, 188-227. 



XLVII 
BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 

In his second Inaugural Address President Lincoln said: "Let 
us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's 
wounds." How were the wounds made by the war bound up? 
How was the question of slavery solved? How were the seceding 
States treated? 

Andrew Johnson. Three hours after Lincoln's death the 
Vice-President, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, was sworn in 
as President. In many respects the Hfe of Johnson was a 
counterpart of the life of Lincoln. His childhood was spent 
in poverty. At a very early age he was compelled to earn his 
own bread. He taught himself the art of reading. He did 
not learn to write until after his marriage, when he was 
taught by his wife. He was always a Democrat in politics, 
but in 1864 he was placed on the Republican ticket as a can- 
didate for the Vice-Presidency. He had many of the noble 
qualities of Lincoln ; he was honest and fearless and firm. 
But he lacked Lincoln's calmness of judgment and kindliness 
of heart. 

Work of Reconstruction. The task that faced Johnson 
and the Congress in 1865 was almost as difificult as the task 
that faced Lincoln and the Congress four years before. In 
1861 a Union was to be saved; in 1865 a L^nion was to be 
reconstructed. In the work of reconstruction three great 
questions had to be settled : ( 1 ) What should be done with 
the leaders who had taken up arms against the Union? (2) 
What should be done with the negroes of the South? (3) 
What should be done with the seceded States? 

344 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



345 



(i) Johnson regarded the leaders of the Confederacy as 
traitors, and he wished them to be punished severely. But 
Lincoln, at a cabinet meeting on the last afternoon of his life, 
had advised against harsh measures. " I hope," he said, 
" there will be no persecution, no bloody work after this war 
is over. No one need 
expect me to take any 
part in hanging or killing 
those men [the Confed- 
erate leaders], even the 
worst of them. Enough 
lives have been sacri- 
ficed. We must extin- 
guish our resentment if 
we expect harmony and 
union." The mild pol- 
icy of Lincoln was car- 
ried out. There was no 
bloody work, no ven- 
geance. Even Davis, the 
leader and President of 
the Confederacy, was 
never brought to trial. 
On May 29, 1865, am- 
nesty and pardon were 
offered to all who had 
been in arms against the 
Union, provided they 
would take oath that 
they would henceforth 
support and defend the 
Constitution of the 
L'nited States and abide by the laws made with reference to the 
emancipation of slaves. There were some excepted classes, it 
is true, but, speaking broadly, pardon was placed within easy 
reach of all who had joined the Confederacy. 

(2) In dealing with the negro question Congress first sent 




Andrew Johnson 

Born in North Carolina, in 1808; governor of 
Tennessee; Vice-President, 1865; succeeded 
Lincoln as seventeenth President, 1865-69; 
died in 1875. 



346 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

out (February, 1865) to the States, for their ratification, the 
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abohshed 
slavery entirely in the United States. By December, 1865, 
this amendment had been ratified by twenty-seven States 
and was the law of the land. Thus three and a half million 
persons were transformed from a condition of slavery to a 
condition of freedom. Of course the freedmen at first hardly 
knew what liberty was. At the close of the war William 
Lloyd Garrison (p. 268) visited Charleston, South Carolina, 
where he met a crowd of negroes just set free. " Well, my 
friends," he said to them, "you are free at last; let us give 
three cheers for freedom ! " And he undertook to lead the 
cheering. But he cheered alone. The poor creatures gave no 
response ; they merely looked at him in wonderment. They 
knew nothing about cheering, nothing about freedom. 

In March, 1865, Congress established a Freedmen's Bureau, 
which was to look after the interests of former slaves and 
protect them from injustice at the hands of the white men. 
This bureau assigned abandoned lands to freedmen; it did 
what it could to improve the morals of the freedmen ; it took 
care that the negro laborer should receive something like a 
fair compensation for his labor. 

In 1866 it was thought that the South was not giving the 
negro all the rights a freedman ought to have. So Congress 
passed the Civil Rights Bill, which declared the freedmen to be 
citizens of the United States and guaranteed to them the same 
civil rights as those enjoyed by white citizens. Since this 
law might be repealed by a succeeding Congress, a Fourteenth 
Amendment was sent out to the States to be ratified. This 
amendment guaranteed equal civil rights to all citizens, re- 
gardless of race or color, and provided that the representation 
of a State in Congress should be based on population. But 
the amendment declared that if in any State the right to 
vote was withheld from any male adult citizens, the number 
of Representatives in that State would be reduced in pro- 
portion. This meant that if the negroes in any State were 
not allowed to vote, the number of Representatives in that 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 347 

State should be reduced in proportion to the number of negroes 
who were denied the suffrage. The Fourteenth Amendment 
was ratified by a sufficient number of States, and thus (in 
1868) became a law that Congress could not repeal. 

It was desired by the leaders in Congress that the negroes 
be allowed to vote, whether the Southern States wished them 
to do so or not. So Congress submitted to the States the 
Fifteenth Amendment, which guarantees that a citizen shall 
not be denied the right to vote on account of his race, color, 
or previous condition of servitude. This amendment was 
adopted in 1870, and was the last of the great measures 
brought forward to help the freedmen. 

(3) While it was dealing with the negro question. Congress 
was at the same time dealing with the seceded States. Every- 
body wished these States to come back into the Union ; but 
Congress refused to restore a State to its old place in the 
Union unless it would first comply with certain conditions. 
During the time a State was making up its mind whether it 
would comply with the conditions or not, it was ruled by a 
military governor appointed by the President. The condi- 
tions imposed upon a State were : 

(i) It must agree to the complete abolitio-n of slavery. 

(2) It must ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. 

(3) It must agree not to pay off any of the debts con- 
tracted by the Confederates. 

One by one, the seceded States agreed to the conditions laid 
down by Congress, and by 1871 all were back in the Union 
and all were enjoying equal rights with the other States. 
When the work of reconstruction was finished we had an 
" indestructible Union of indestructible States." 

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. While the work of re- 
construction was going on, a serious quarrel arose between 
President Johnson and Congress. Johnson held the opinion 
that the Civil War was only an ordinary uprising of citizens 
against the government, and that when the war was ended all 
that was necessary to be done was to punish the leaders of the 
uprising. The States, he contended, had never been out of 



348 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the Union and had never lost any of their rights, and he was 
stoutly opposed to any action that interfered with the rights 
of a State. On this ground he vetoed the bill creating the 
Freedmen's Bureau and the Civil Rights Bill. Congress, 
however, passed both measures over his head. 

By 1867 the quarrel between Johnson and Congress had 
become very bitter, and Congress in that year, in order to 
hamper Johnson, passed the Tenure of Office Act, which 
provided that the President should not remove any public 
officer without the consent of the Senate. Johnson denied the 
right of Congress to make such a law, and he very soon dis- 
obeyed it. This led (February, 1868) to his impeachment. 
In the House of Representatives he was impeached (accused) 
of high crimes and misdemeanors. The impeachment (ac- 
cusation) was tried in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is 
necessary to convict. The trial lasted two months, and when 
the vote was taken thirty-five Senators voted " Guilty " and 
nineteen " Not guilty." With one more vote against him, 
Johnson would have been convicted and removed from office. 
As it was, he escaped conviction and remained in the Presi- 
dency until the end of his term (March 4, 1869). 




The Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson 



BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 



349 



The French in Mexico (1861-67). During this period of 
reconstruction our government found it necessary to inter- 
vene in the affairs of Mexico. In 1861 France, England, and 
Spain, acting together, sent an armed force to Mexico to 
hold her seaports until certain debts were paid. But England 
and Spain soon withdrew their troops, leaving France to act 
alone. The Emperor of France, Napoleon III, desired to 
establish the French power in Mexico. He accordingly over- 
threw the Mexican gov- 
ernment and made 
Maximilian, a brother 
of the Emperor of Aus- 
tria, the Emperor of 
Mexico. All this, you 
will observe, was con- 
trary to the Monroe 
Doctrine(p. 222). Still, 
at the lime, the United 
States could do nothing 
but protest, for it had 
the Civil War on its 
hands. As soon as the 
war was over, however, 
General Sheridan, with 
a large army, was de- 
spatched to the Mexi- 
can frontier. France 
saw what was coming, 
and the French troo])-; 
were at once withdraw n 
(in 1867) fi'O"'' Mex- 
ico. Maximilian fell 
into the hands of the 
Mexicans, and was 
promptly shot. 

Purchase of Alaska. 
struction period was the purchase of Alaska, which then be- 




Ulysses S. Grant 

Born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, in 1822; eight- 
eenth President, 1869-77; died at Mount Mc- 
Gregor, New York, in 1885. 

Another important event of the recon- 



350 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



longed to Russia. Just about the time the French troops were 
leaving Mexico, the Russian minister at Washington offered to 
sell to the United States Russia's possessions in America for the 
sum of $7,200,000. The offer was accepted " with almost com- 
ical alacrity," and an area of 577,000 square miles was 
added to our territory. At the time it was thought by 




Alaska Compared with the United States 

If Alaska were placed in the United States, the northern boundary touching Canada, 
the south-east corner would reach the Atlantic Ocean, and its islands would reach 
the Pacific. 

many that we had made a bad bargain, but in fact we made 
a very good bargain, for the furs, fisheries, gold-fields, and 
coal-lands of Alaska are worth the purchase price a thousand 
times over. 

President Grant and Reconstruction. By this time a Presi- 
dential election was drawing near. Who was to be elected 
in 1868 as the successor of President Johnson? The Repub- 
licans in that year nominated as their candidate the man who, 
next to Lincoln, had done most in the Civil War to bring 
success to the Union — General U. S. Grant. The Demo- 
crats nominated Horatio Seymour of New York. The elec- 
tion gave Grant 214 electoral votes and Seymour 80. Four 



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BINDING UP THE NATION'S WOUNDS 351 

years later Grant was reelected over Horace Greeley, of New 
York, by an electoral vote of 286 to 63. 

General Grant in his Inaugural Address (March 4, 1869) let 
it be known that he desired to deal kindly with the Southern 
people, so that the wounds caused by the war might be quickly 
healed. He took as his motto, " Let us have peace." Dur- 
ing his first term the last of the great reconstruction measures 
was passed (in 1872). This was the Amnesty Act, which 
removed the political disabilities of large classes of persons 
who, if the law had not been passed, would have been pre- 
vented by the Fourteenth Amendment from holding office be- 
cause they had fought on the side of the South. This law did 
much to heal the nation's wounds, for it pardoned nearly 
150,000 of the best citizens of the South and allowed them to 
hold office and have a share in public affairs. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give a sketch of the life and character of Andrew Johnson. 

2. In the work of reconstruction what was done with those who 
had taken up arms against the Union ? What was the Thirteenth 
Amendment? What was the Freedmen's Bureau? The Civil Rights 
Bill? The Fourteenth Amendment? The Fifteenth Amendment? 
With what conditions did the seceded States have to comply before 
they were restored to the Union? 

3. Why was Johnson impeached? What was the result of his im- 
peachment ? 

4. Give an account of the French occupation of Mexico and of the 
withdrawal of the French. 

5. Give an account of the purchase of Alaska. 

6. Give an account of the election of 1868. What was the Amnesty 
Act of 1872? 

REVIEW AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1620, 1812, 1846, 1850, 1862, 1865 (2). 

2. Persons: Jolin Winthrop, Daniel Boone, John Adams, Eli Whit- 
ney, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Davis, Johnson. 

3. Reviews of Great Subjects: Foreign Relations since 1789; Nulli- 
fication and Secession; Slavery; English Colonization. 

4. Reading References : 

(i) Condition of the South (1865) : Hart, 336-339- 
(2) Social Conditions during Reconstruction: McLaughlin, 
320-322. 



XLVIII 
STARTING ANEW 

While our statesmen were binding up the nation's wounds, while 
they were dealing with the slavery question and bringing the 
seceding States back into the Union, business men and workingmen 
were striving with might and main to develop our industries and 
place the country again on the highroad of progress. For at the 
close of the Civil War there was reconstruction work to be done in 
the industrial world as well as in the political world. In fact, as 
soon as the war was over the United States entered upon a new 
Hfe. 

The South at the Close of the Civil War. The war left 
the South in a deplorable condition. Immense districts had 
suffered from the ravages of contending armies. The plant- 
ers were poor and deeply in debt. Their fields were neglected 
and unfilled. Their dwellings were out of repair and their 
empty barns were falling down. Worse than all, their labor 
system was completely destroyed. Their former slaves, of 
course, could not be compelled to work, and they were not 
disposed to work of their own free will. For the slave 
thought that slavery meant only toil, and after he was set 
free he thought that freedom meant only idleness. Moreover, 
the Southern people, as we shall presently learn, suffered 
greatly during the reconstruction period because government 
was so bad and corrupt. Indeed, it seemed that the burdens 
of the South were more than she could bear. Yet, crushed 
and defeated as she was, she rallied and lifted herself from 
her fallen condition. 

The North after the Civil War. Far different from the 
conditions that confronted the people of the South were those 
which prevailed in the North. There the Civil War left in its 

.152 



STARTING ANEW 353 

wake no serious problems of reconstruction. The soil of the 
Northern States had hardly been touched by invading armies, 
and the industries of the North were in as healthy a condition 
at the close of the war as they were at its beginning. In 
truth, the North was as rich and was standing as firmly on 
its feet in 1865 as it had been in 1861. 

The New West. When the new start on the road of 
progress was taken, countless faces were turned to the great 
West, where across the Mississippi there lay a wild, unculti- 
vated region more than a million of square miles in extent. 
Many things worked together to build up the West at this 
time. The Homestead Act (p. 340) was giving settlers their 
land for a song. Immigrants, encouraged by a favorable law, 
were now coming to America every year by the hundreds of 
thousands. Nearly a million came in the four years follow- 
ing the war. Great numbers of these foreigners, Irish and 
Germans and Scandinavians, pushed out into the West, far 
beyond the Mississippi. Then, the mustering out of the Union 
troops at the close of the war resulted in a gain to the west- 
ward movement. Between May, 1865, and June, 1866, nearly 
a million soldiers laid down their arms and took up peaceful 
occupations. Great numbers of these disbanded men went 
straight to the West to try their fortunes. 

The thing that marked out the path of Western develop- 
ment at this time was the railroad. You remember that dur- 
ing the war plans were made for building railroads clear across 
the country (p. 340). The first of the transcontinental rail- 
roads to be constructed was the Union Pacific. To en- 
courage the building of this road. Congress granted to the 
•companies that were to construct it, about 33,000,000 acres 
of the public lands, an area much larger than the entire 
State of Pennsylvania. The road was built by two com- 
panies, one of which worked from Omaha westward and the 
other from Sacramento eastward. The two lines met at Og- 
den, Utah, May 10, 1869, where two men with silver hammers 
drove the last spikes, two of gold and two of silver, into the 
last tie. 



354 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The benefits of the Union Pacific were felt along the whole 
length of the line. With the completion of the road Ne- 
braska (p. 289) was connected with the markets of the world, 
and her development proceeded at a rapid pace. In 1867 
she was admitted to the Union, and in a few years she was 
taking her place as one of the great grain-growing States. 
Wyoming practically owes her existence to a railroad. In 
1867 the Union Pacific laid out the town of Cheyenne, and 




A Union Pacific Train in 1870 

the next year the Territory of Wyoming- was created by Con- 
gress. Colorado (p. 289) also felt the benefits of the Union 
Pacific. In 1870 Denver was connected by a railroad with 
the Union Pacific, and six years later Colorado was admitted 
as the " Centennial State." 

The growth of the new Northwest, the region extending 
from Minnesota to the Pacific, was also hastened by the build- 
ing of a railroad. In 1864 Congress chartered the Northern 
Pacific, granting it nearly 45,000,000 acres of the public lands 
lying along its route. The road, therefore, received a gift 
of land whose area was greater than that of all New Eng- 
land. The Northern Pacific was to connect Duluth on Lake 
Superior with Portland, Oregon, and with Tacoma and 
Seattle on Puget Sound. By 1876 the road had been built 



STARTING ANEW 355 

westward as far as Bismarck, and was changing the country 
through which it passed from a state of savagery to a state 
of civilization. 

The presence of the white men in the new Northwest was 
bitterly resented by the Indians. The national government was 
following the policy of allotting to the Indian tribes certain 
tracts of lands known as " reservations," on which the red 
men alone might live. But the Indians would not remain on 
their reservations, and they often murdered white settlers. 
They were especially troublesome to the workmen who built 
the Northern Pacific. In 1876 United States troops were sent 
against the Indians to subdue them and bring them to terms. 
Before they were subdued, however, they dealt our troops 
a terrible blow. A large force of Sioux Indians in southern 
Montana suddenly surrounded a division of 260 men under 
General George Custer, and killed every man, including the 
brave Custer himself. 

Good Times. The opening of the West led to such an ex- 
tension of our farming lands that in a few years the number 
of farms was doubled and we were producing nearly one 
third of all the grain in the world. Manufacturing also took 
on new life after the war and flourished as never before. 
There were enough reasons why it should flourish. The grow- 
ing West was calling for the manufactures of the East. The 
South also was renewing its orders for the manufactures of 
the North. Then the manufacturer was helped by the Morrill 
TarifT Act, which was passed during the war (p. S2>7) ^"^ 
which was in force for many years. The duties imposed by 
this tarifif were so high that they kept some classes of foreign 
goods out of the American market altogether. 

Such favorable circumstances were bound to bring good 
times. In five years after the war closed more cotton-spindles 
were put in operation, more iron-furnaces were erected, more 
coal and copper were mined, more lumber was sawed and 
hewn, more manufactures of different kinds were started than 
during any equal period in the history of our country. 



356 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Disaster and Hard Times. But this wonderful prosperity 
did not last. Good times were followed by disaster and hard 
times. In 1871 occurred the great Chicago fire. The fire 
broke out in a barn, and spread with such rapidity that it 
soon got beyond the control of the firemen. It raged for two 




Three Views of Chicago 

days, destroying 17,000 buildings and causing 200 deaths. 
Seventy thousand persons were rendered homeless and the 
property loss was nearly $200,000,000. Within a year the 
burned district, covering over 2000 acres, was largely rebuilt, 
and within two years there was a new Chicago. In 1872 Bos- 
ton also was visited by a disastrous fire. 

Just after these great fires there followed a period of hard 
times known as the panic of 1873. The beginning of the 
panic was in the autumn of 1873, when the great banking 
house of Jay Cooke & Co., in Philadelphia, failed to meet its 



STARTING ANEW 357 

oljHgations. After this failure money was hard to get, men 
were thrown out of employment, and there was sufifering in 
alLfJarts of the country. 

i^Unrest Among the People. The panic of 1873 led to much 
trouble among workingmen, for during the hard times the 
wages of employees were reduced. But the laboring men were 
now organized into unions, and in many cases they would not 
consent to a reduction in their wages. In 1877 the employees 
on some of the great railroads refused to work, and during 
the strike blood was shed and property was destroyed. In 
Baltimore and in Pittsburgh there was fighting between the 
strikers and soldiers and a number of lives were lost. 

The railroads at the time were having trouble with shippers 
as well as with their employees. In the Middle West the farm- 
ers were compelled to pay the railroads a higher rate for the 
shipment of their grain than they thought was just. So in 
order to protect themselves they formed an organization called 
the Patrons of Husbandry, each local society of the organiza- 
tion being known as a grange. By 1876 their granges num- 
bered 10,000 and their membership nearly 1,500,000. In Illi- 
nois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, the Grangers — as the Pa- 
trons were usually called — were successful in securing from 
the State legislatures laws fixing the rates the railroads might 
charge. But the railroad owners contended that their busi- 
ness was a private one, and that a legislature could no more 
fix the rate that a railroad might charge than it could fix the 
price at which a grocer might sell cheese. The railroad own- 
ers carried their case to the courts, and in 1877 the Supreme 
Court of the United States decided against them, declaring 
that the State legislature had the right to fix the rates. Thus 
the Grangers took the first step in a movement which was to 
grow stronger and stronger arid one day was to bring all the 
railroads under the complete control of the government. 

"Carpet-Baggers"; the Ku-Klux Klan. The troublous 
times in the North were matched by an even worse condition 
of affairs in the South. During several years of Grant's 



358 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

administration the South was overrun with dishonest adven- 
turers who came from the North and who received the name 
of " carpet-baggers " because it was said that they brought 
with them from the North nothing but traveHng-satchels made 
of carpet. These carpet-baggers, by playing upon the prej- 
udices of the freedmen and taking advantage of their igno- 
rance, secured their votes, and in several States gained control 
of the government. 

Where the carpet-baggers were most successful, as in Ala- 
bama, Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi, 
public affairs were managed in a most shameful and corrupt 
manner. In Alabama in one county the clerk was a horse- 
thief and the sheriff a negro who could not read. In the 
legislature the negro members were so ignorant that they could 
only watch their white leaders — carpet-baggers — and vote 
aye or no as they were told. In South Carolina the corruption 
under " carpet-bag " rule was shocking in the extreme. In the 
legislature $200,000 was spent for furniture and $150,000 for 
printing. The most expensive wines, liquors, and cigars were 
ordered to be sent to the boarding-houses of the members, most 
of whom were negroes who had been slaves. 

To protect themselves against the rule of the negroes and 
the carpet-baggers, the whites organized a secret society known 
as the Ku-Klux Klan. The members of this society did all 
they could to prevent the negro from voting and to make the 
life of the carpet-bagger miserable. In carrying out its pur- 
poses the Ku-Klux Klan committed many outrages, and in 
1871 Congress caused the society to be suppressed and many 
of its members arrested. 

Wrong-Doing in High Places. It was not only in the 
South that there was wrong-doing in matters of government 
during those years. About the time the carpet-baggers were 
robbing the taxpayers of the South, a gang of dishonest 
politicians led by William M. Tweed were robbing the tax- 
payers of New York City. One of the tricks employed by 
Tweed and his companions was to pay those who had bills 



STARTING ANEW 359 

against the city sums of money vastly greater than were really 
due them. For example, if a man had a hill against the city 
for $5,000. he was paid $55,000. Of this sum the man pre- 
senting the bill received $5,000, while Tweed and his gang 
received the remaining $50,000. After Tweed had stolen 
from the city many millions of dollars, he was arrested and 
thrown into prison. 

Wrong-doing at the time was so widespread that even 
members of Congress were accused of dishonest conduct. In 
1876, Qne of the members of President Grant's cabinet was 
impeached for accepting bribes. The most disgraceful affair 
was the fraud committed by the Whisky Ring, a group of 
distillers and officers of the national government. These men, 
working together, put into their pockets nearly $3,000,000 
that ought to have been paid into the treasury of the United 
States. 

Centennial Exposition. About the time President Grant 
was being so much troubled with corrupt officials, he was 
called upon to perform a more cheerful and agreeable task. 
This was to open the Centennial Exposition, which was held 
at Philadelphia in 1876 for the purpose of celebrating the 
Centennial of American Independence. The Exposition re- 
vealed the wonderful resources of our own country and fur- 
nished other nations an opportunity to exhibit their products. 
Forty of the great governments of the world took part in the 
display. 

Election of 1876; The Electoral Commission. While the 
great Exposition at Philadelphia was in progress the politicians 
were preparing for another election. Since there was a 
great deal of wrong-doing among public officials in Grant's 
administration, it seemed that by 1876 the country was ready 
to turn the Republicans out of power. In the Presidential 
campaign that year the Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden 
of New York. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. 
Hayes of Ohio. 

Tilden received the largest popular vote, but there were 



36o 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Centennial Exposition Building 

only 184 electoral votes that were certainly his, and he needed 
185. The electoral votes of South Carolina, Louisiana, 
Florida, and Oregon were in doubt. If Hayes could secure 
oil the electoral votes of all these States, he would be elected; 
if Tilden could secure only one electoral vote in any one of 
these States, he would be elected. In each of the four doubt- 
ful States both parties claimed the victory. There was much 
excitement, and serious trouble was threatened. 

To settle the difficulty Congress referred the matter to what 
was called the Electoral Commission, a body composed of five 
members of the House of Representatives, five Senators, and 
five associate justices of the United States Supreme Court — 
fifteen members in all. This Commission, by a vote of eight 
to seven, decided that all the electoral votes of all the doubt- 
ful States belonged to Hayes. So Mr. Hayes was declared 
elected, and was inaugurated March 4, 1877. 



QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Describe the condition of the South at the close of the war; the 
condition of the North. 

2. What things worked together to build up the West just after the 
war? Give an account of the Western development at this time. 

3. Give an account of the prosperity of the country at this time. 

4. Describe the great fires and give an account of the panic of 1873. 

5. Give an account of the unrest among the people. Tell the story 
of the Grangers. 

6. Describe the misrule in the South. 

7. Give an account of the wrong-doings in high places. 

8. Give an account of the Centennial Exposition. 

9. Tell the story of the election of 1876. 



STARTING ANEW 361 

REVIEW AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1803, 1S60, 1861, 1863, 1865. 

2. J'ersons : Henry the Navigator, Columbus, Americiis Vespucius, 
Samuel Adams, Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Clay, Calhoun, Fillmore, 
Johnson. 

3. Tell what you can about: the Louisiana Purchase; the Era of 
Good Feeling; the Monroe Doctrine; the Work of Reconstruction; the 
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Presidents: their Election and 
Inauguration; Expansion; Means of Communication; Indians and In- 
dian Wars. 

5. Reading References: 

(i) The Ku-Klux Klan : A United People, 16-26. 
■ (2) The Tweed Ring: Hart, 352-355. 

(3) Read in the class: Centennial Year: Hart, 358-360; also 
Centennial Hymn : A United People, 2. 

(4) The Age of Railways : Schafer, 230-245. 

(5) Denver: Hotchkiss, 44-56. 

(6) Read in the class: The Chicago Fire: Lane and Hill, 
158-160. 

(7) Custer's Last Battle: A United People, 64-70. 



XLIX 
PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 

When Mr. Hayes began his duties as President (March 4, 1877) 
the nation was recovering from the bad effects of the Civil War 
and was entering upon a period of prosperity and growth such as 
Americans had never known before. In this chapter the story of 
this wonderful growth will be carried through the years in which 
Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur were at the head of our government, 
and an account of the administration of these three Presidents 
will be given. 

Removal of Troops from the South. It will be remembered 
that during reconstruction times the Southern States were 
placed under military rule, being governed by officers and 
troops of the United States army (p. 347). One of the first 
acts of President Hayes was to withdraw (April 9, 1878) 
from the South the last of the troops of the regular army. 
The removal of the soldiers marked the end of the recon- 
struction period and was the beginning of better days for the 
South. The corrupt carpet-bag governments were now 
speedily overthrown and the Southern people again assumed 
control of their own afifairs. 

With the removal of the troops the feeling of bitterness 
between the North and the South began to pass away. In 
September, 1877, President Hayes made a trip through the 
South and was kindly received. Leaders of the former Con- 
federacy were also kindly received in the North. In the 
cemeteries, North and South, flowers began to be placed upon 
the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers. 

Election of President Garfield. At the end of his term 
President Hayes was not a candidate for re-election. In the 

.^62 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



363 



Presidential election of 1880 
the Republicans nominated 
James A. Garfield of Ohio 
for President and Chester 
A. Arthur of New York for 
Vice-President. The Demo- 
crats nominated Winfield 
Scott Hancock of Pennsyl- 
vania. Garfield received the 
majority of the electoral 
votes, although Hancock 
polled a popular vote almost 
as large as that of his suc- 
cessful rival. 

Death of Garfield; Presi- 
dent Arthur. President 
Garfield had hardly entered 
upon his duties as President 
when he was made the vic- 
tim of an assassin's bullet. 
On July 2, 1 88 1, while in the 
railroad station at Washing- 
ton, he was shot in the back 
by a disappointed office- 
seeker. The wounded Presi- 
dent made a brave fight for 
his life, but he slowly suc- 
cumbed and on September 19 
he passed away. 

On the day after Garfield's death Vice-President Arthur, 
at his home in New York, took the oath of office as President. 
Little was known of the character of the new President or of 
his fitness for his great duties, and there were some fears lest 
he might not prove to be the right man in the right place. 
These fears, however, were groundless ; for President Arthur 
performed the duties of his office in a conscientious manner 
and with ability and dignity. 




Rutherford B. Hayes 

Rorn in Ohio, in 1822; served in the 
Union army in the Civil War; niemher of 
Congress; governor of Ohio; nineteenth 
President, 1877-81 ; died in 1893. 



364 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The Merit System. President Jackson set the example of 
rewarding his pohtical friends by giving them offices without 
regard to fitness (p. 229). The example of Jackson was quite 
faithfully followed by the Presidents who came after him, and 
it soon became a fixed custom for a new administration to turn 
out the old office-holders and appoint new ones in their places. 

Grant did not like the 
custom. '* The present 
system," he said, " does 
not secure the best men, 
and often not even fit 
men, for public places." 
To remedy the evils of 
the "spoils system," Con- 
gress, in 1883, passed a 
law providing for a Civil 
Service Commission, 
whose chief duty was to 
hold examinations and 
ascertain which appli- 
cants were best fitted for 
office. Those who passed 
the best examinations 
were to receive the ap- 
pointments. Under this 
law the spoils system has 
in a large measure been 
abandoned and the merit 
system established. 

The New South. Dur- 
ing the administrations 
of Hayes, Garfield, and 
Arthur — that is, be- 




by Underwood & Underwood 
James A. Garfield 



Horn in Ohio, in tS.^i; served in the Union 
army during the Civil War, becoming major- 
general; member of Congress and of the Senate; 
became twentieth President in 1881 ; was shot on 
July 2, 1881, and died September 19 following. tWCCU l877 and 1885 



the forces of industry were hard at work in all parts of the land. 
Tn no section were they working harder than in the South. 
We have already learned how bravely the Southern people 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



365 



rallied at the close of the war (p. 352). They went about 
repairing their fortunes in such earnest fashion that in a few 
years they had created a new South. In 1884, when a great 
cotton exposition was held in 
New Orleans, it was shown that 
the South was raising more cot- 
ton than ever before. And the 
South by this time was begin- 
ning to work on a large scale 
her rich mines of coal and iron, 
a thing she had never done be- 
fore. For before the war she 
relied almost wholly upon farm- 
ing and the only crop she cared 
to raise was cotton. Now she 
was engaging not only in farm- 
ing, but in mining and in man- 
ufacturing as well. She was 

converting her ores into iron, Photograph by Brown Brothers 

1 ,1 J . r ^u Chester A. Arthur 

and soon the products of the 

iron and steel-mills of Alabama 
and Tennessee were competing 
in the market with the mills of 
the North. She was not only raising cotton in enormous quan- 
tities but she was manufacturing the cotton into cloth. 

Before the war there was very little spinning and weaving 
in the Southern States, but by 1885 mill towns were spring- 
ing up in so many parts of the South that it was plain that 
the efifects of the Industrial Revolution were being felt in the 
Southland. In this development of the new South the negroes 
were doing their part, and were rendering better service than 
they had rendered in the days of their bondage. " We have 
found out," said a distinguished Southerner (Henry W. 
Grady) in 1886, " that in the general summing up the free 
negro counts for more than he did as a slave." 

Great Inventions. It was during these years (1877-1885) 




Born in Vermont, in 1830; was col- 
lector of the port of New York, 1871- 
78; became Vice-President in 1880, 
and upon the death of (jarfield suc- 
ceeded him as twenty-first President, 
1881-85; died in 1886. 



366 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

that a number of most remarkable inventions began to be 
brought into general use. Of these many were of great 
benefit to the farmer. The gang-plow — a series of several 
plows joined together and mounted on wheels and drawn by 
the power of steam — was taking the place of the plow that 
was drawn by horses and that turned but a single furrow. 
The early reaper (p. 261) which simply cut the grain was being 
replaced by the self-binder which both cut the grain and bound 
it into sheaves. And the self-binder was soon followed by 
the complete harvester, which cut the grain, threshed it, and 
put it into sacks. 

Inventions at this time were also making great changes in 
railroad matters. Manufacturers were using the Bessemer 
process of making steel, and were turning out steel rails for 
railroads and constructing steel boilers for locomotives. For 
a long time we had been importing steel rails and locomotives 
from England, but now we began to make our own. Before 
many years passed we were exporting hundreds of locomo- 
tives and thousands of tons of steel rails. 

With the coming of steel rails it was possible to build loco- 
motives that would draw larger trains, and on steel rails the 
trains could be run at higher speed. But the heavy fast run- 
ning trains could not be quickly stopped by the simple hand- 
brake that was used ; so George Westinghouse invented an 
airbrake powerful enough to stop the trains promptly. 

It was at this time that electricity began to be brought into 
use for doing things that it had. never done before. In 1882 
Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, New Jersey, showed that 
a car could be operated by electricity. Three years later 
street cars began to take their power from overhead wires 
charged with an electric current, and the day of the trolley- 
car was at hand. But the trolley-car was only one of the 
many wonderful electrical inventions that appeared at this 
time. Charles F. Brush of Cleveland invented an arc-light 
made by passing a powerful current of electricity between 
two carbon points. This gave as much light as a hundred 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 



367 



gas-jets. The arc-light 
was excellent for 
lighting streets, but 
was not suitable for 
use within doors. Soon 
Edison came forward 
(in 1880) with an in- 
candescent electric 
light that could be 
used indoors as well 
as out, and which, at 
the pressure of a but- 
ton, could fill a house 
with a light that rivals 
the light of day. About 
this time, too, the 
Wizard of Menlo 
Park, as Edison was 
called, invented 
(1878) a talking-ma- 
chine called a phono- 
graph, and from this 
invention came the 

victrolas, graphophones, and seolians that we find to-day in mil- 
lions of homes. But the most wonderful invention of the pe- 
riod was a machine that would carry the human voice. This 
was the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. 
At first the new invention was only a toy and would operate at 
only short distances. But improvements were made and the 
distances became greater. The telephone grew rapidly into 
favor and in a short time it was used more than the telegraph. 
Progress in Commerce and Industry. How fast we were 
going forward during these years in matters of commerce and 
industry is shown in the Table of Progress given on next page. 
Study the table carefully and you will be able to form a 
clear idea of the marvelous progress we were making in the 
days of Hayes and Garfield and Arthur. 




Thomas A. Edison 



368 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

TABLE OF PROGRESS IN THE UNITED STATES BETWEEN 

1870 AND 1890 

1870 1880 1890 

Farms and farm prop- 
erty $ 8,900,000,000 $i2,i8o,ooOjOoo $16,082,000,000 

Farm products 1,950,000,000 2,212,000,000 2,400,000,000 

Products of manu- 
facturing 4,232,000,000 5,309,000,000 9.372,000,000 

Number of persons 
employed in manu- 
factures 2,000,000 2,750,000 4,000,000 

Imports of merchan- 
dise 436,000,000 668,000,000 789,000,000 

Exports of merchan- 
dise 392,000,000 835,000,000 837,000,000 

Miles of railroad... 53,ooo 93,ooo 167,000 

Total wealth $30,000,000,000 $43,000,000,000 $65,000,000,000 

Total population .... 38,500,000 50,000,000 63,000,000 

Population of cities. 8,000,000 11,300,000 18,200,000 

Pupils enrolled in 
public schools .... 7,000,000 10,000,000 13,000,000 

The Rising Tide of Immigration. You observe that the 
Table shows an enormous increase in population. Much of 
this increase was due to immigration. For at this period 
foreigners came to our shores in greater numbers than ever 
before. In the Seventies nearly 3,000,000 came and in the 
Eighties more than 5,000,000. There was reason for their 
coming, for in the East there was plenty of work and in the 
West there was plenty of cheap land. Large numbers of the 
new-comers remained in the East where there was a demand 
for their labor in the mines and shops. But large numbers 
who had been peasants in Europe desired to be farmers in 
America. These made their way to the West and settled 
down on farms. Thousands of Swedes and Norwegians went 
to the Northwest and helped to build up Minnesota and Da- 
kota. 

Millions of the foreigners who were now pouring into the 
country were intelligent, able bodied toilers and America 



PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS 369 

needed their brains and their labor. But among the new- 
comers were many undesirable persons to whom the hand of 
welcome could not be extended. The undesirable class be- 
came so large that Congress decided that it was necessary to 
shut the door upon immigrants whose presence in America 
would bring more harm than good. In 1882 it passed a law 
excluding Chinese laborers from the United States. In the 
same year Congress ordered that the character of immigrants 
be looked into and if it were found that an incoming foreigner 
was an ex-convict, or a lunatic, or that he was a person that 
was not able to take care of himself, he must be sent back to 
the country from which he came. Three years later Con- 
gress passed the Alien Contract Labor Law. This provided 
that any person brought to the United States under a contract 
to perform labor here could be sent back at the expense of 
the vessel bringing him. Thus in the Eighties Congress be- 
gan the policy of checking immigration, its purpose being to 
keep out undesirable foreigners and to let in those whose 
presence would be beneficial to the nation. 

Progress in Education and in Literature. In the Table of 
Progress given you observe that by 1880 ten millions of pupils 
were attending our public schools and that the attendance was 
increasing at a rapid rate. The foundations of our school sys- 
tem which were laid before the Civil War (p. 265) were made 
broader and deeper after the war, and by the end of the 
period which we are now studying there were in every State 
public schools free to all children, both black and white. By 
this time there was in almost every State a system of ex- 
cellent high schools. Moreover, colleges and universities were 
now increasing in number and were receiving from our rich 
men vast sums of money in the form of gifts. Among the 
most prominent of the colleges and universities founded about 
this time were Smith, Wellesley, Johns Hopkins, Bryn Mawr, 
the Catholic University, Leland Stanford, Jr., and the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 

Along with this progress in education there was progress 



370 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

in literature. The great authors who flourished before the 
Civil War (p. 266) were still writing books and new authors 
were also coming to the front. William Dean Howells, Bret 
Harte, F. Marion Crawford, Henry James and George W. 
Cable were telling excellent stories. Sidney Lanier, Eugene 
Field, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, James Whitcomb Riley, C. H. 
(Joaquin) Miller and R. W. Gilder were writing beautiful 
poems. Samuel L. Clemens (" Mark Twain ") and E. W. 
(Bill) Nye were delighting millions of readers with their 
humor. John Fiske, Henry Adams, and John Bach McMaster 
were making scholarly contributions to American history. 

The Growth of Cities. The Table of Progress shows that 
during this time, the number of persons employed in manu- 
facturing was growing larger very fast. This meant (as the 
Table also shows) a rapid growth in the population of cities, 
for manufacturing leads to the building of cities. In truth 
the United States by this time was becoming a nation of 
cities. By 1890 New York was taking rank with the very 
largest cities of the world. Chicago had outstripped all the 
cities of the West and, next to New York, was the greatest 
city in the country. Philadelphia had a population of over 
a million, while St. Louis, Baltimore and Boston each had a 
population of nearly half a million. Nine other cities — Cleve- 
land, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, San Francisco, Milwaukee, 
Cincinnati, New Orleans and Washington, D. C. — had passed 
the 200,000 mark, while Newark and Minneapolis were 
rapidly approaching that mark. In the New England States 
and in New York and New Jersey, the States in which there 
was so much manufacturing, more than half the people lived 
in cities. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What effect did the withdrawal of the troops have upon the 
South ? 

2. Give an account of the Presidential election of 1880. 

3. Describe the assassination of Garfield. What can you say of his 
successor? 




poet of 
Born in Georgia 



A Group of Later American Writers 

William Dean Howells Sidney Lanier 

Novelist. Author of " The Rise of Silas Poet and rnusician. Leading 

Lapham," " A Modern Instance." ]Jorn the South since Poe. 

in Ohio, 1837. in 1842; died in 1881. 

Mark Twain 

The pen name of Samuel L. Clemens, tiumorist. Author of " The Innocents 

Ahroad," "Roughing It." Born in Missouri, 1835; died 1910. 

Walt Whitman Bret Harte 

" The poet of Democracy." Author of Short story writer. Author of " The 

" Leaves of Grass," " Drum-Taps," etc. Luck of Roaring Camp." Born in Al- 

Born on Long Island, 1818; died Cam- bany, 1839; died in England, 1902. 
den, N. J., 1892. 



Z72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

4. When and why was the Civil Service Commission estabHshed ? 

5. Describe the New South which arose after the war. 

6. Tell of some of the great inventions which appeared during this 
period (1877- 1885). 

7. Give an account of the progress we were making in commerce and 
industry at this time. 

8. Give an account of immigration at this time. 

9. Tell of the progress we were making in education and in liter- 
ature. 

10. Describe the growth of cities at this time. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1789, 1846, 1862, 1865, 1876. 

2. Persons : George Calvert, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Webster, Penn, 
Pierce, Douglas, Lincoln, Buchanan, John Brown, Grant, Lee, Johnson, 
Hayes. 

3. Tell what you can about : The Stamp Act ; the Capture of Mason 
and Slidell ; the Carpet-bagger ; the Ku-Klux Klan ; Great Fires ; the 
Grangers ; Strikes and Riots ; the Work of Reconstruction ; the Im- 
peachment of Andrew Johnson; the Centennial Exposition; the 
Electoral Commission. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Presidents: their Election and In- 
auguration; Great Inventions; Agriculture; Education; the Growth 
of Cities; Population; English Colonization; Manufacturing. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Civil Service Reform: Hart, 363-365; A United People, 
26-28. 

(2) The Cattle Industry: McLaughlin, 328-336. 

(3) Agriculture since the Civil War: McLaughlin, 340-348. 

(4) Edison and Bell: Chandler, 28S-297 ; Paris, 353-376. 

(5) Pittsburgh, the World's Workshop: Hotchkiss, 118-133. 

(6) New York: Hotchkiss, I77-I97- 

(7) Boston: Hotchkiss, 161-176. 

(8) Savannah : Hotchkiss, 147-161. 



L 

THE DEMOCRATS RETURN TO POWER 

While the country was enjoying the remarkable prosperity de- 
scribed in the last chapter, the Republicans were still holding the 
power that passed into their hands in i860. When the time came 
to choose a successor to President Arthur, they went into the cam- 
paign confident of success. They had governed the nation through 
the terrible years of the Civil War, through the dark days of re- 
construction, through times of want and times of plenty, and they 
felt that they had earned the good will of the people and that they 
would be retained in power. But the voters decided against them ; 
for in 1884 the Democrats, after having been out of office for 
nearly a quarter of a century, elected their candidate for President. 

Election of 1884. Although President Arthur managed the 
affairs of the country wisely and well, he failed to secure the 
support of the leaders of his party. When the Republicans 
made their nomination for President in 1884 their choice fell 
upon James G. Blaine of Maine. The Democratic candidate 
was Grover Cleveland of New York. 

The election of 1884 was a hard-fought battle. Blaine was 
one of the ablest and most brilliant men of his time and a 
great favorite with the people. Cleveland was not so well 
known as his Republican rival ; but as Mayor of Buffalo and 
as Governor of New York he had won for himself a reputa- 
tion for industry, honesty, and courage. The campaign cry 
of the Democrats was tariff reform. During the war the 
duties on imports had been placed very high (p. 2)2)7 )> ^"d the 
Democratic party in the campaign of 1884 contended that they 
ought to be lowered. The voters were of the same opinion, 
and Cleveland was elected. 

By electing Cleveland and thus placing the government in 

Z7i 



374 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




Grover Cleveland 

Born at Caldwell, New Jersey, in 1837; mayor of Buffalo in 1882; governor of New 
York, 1883-84; President of the United States, 1885-89 and 1893-97; died in 

1908. 

the hands of the Democrats, the voters bestowed power upon 
the party that had its greatest strength in the South 
and that was largely under the control of Southern men. 
This meant that Northern men were no longer afraid to have 
Southern men as leaders in the affairs of the nation. So the 
election of Cleveland had the effect of drawing the North 
and the South closer together and strengthening the bonds of 
national union. The history of our country since 1885 is the 
history of a united people. 

The Presidential Succession Act ; the Electoral Count Act. 
Although the Democrats returned to power in 1885, they did 
not have full control of Congress, for the Senate was still 
controlled by the Republicans. It was impossible, therefore, 
for the Democrats to pass any law that the Republicans did 
not want them to pass. For this reason they could do very 
little in the way of tariff reform. 

Nevertheless, while Cleveland was President Congress 



THE DEMOCRATS RETURN TO POWER 375 

enacted several important laws that were supported by both 
parties. One of these was the Presidential Succession Act of 
1886. This law provides that if, for any reason, neither the 
President nor the Vice-President can discharge the duties of 
the Presidential office, members of the President's cabinet 
shall succeed to the Presidency in the following order : ( i ) 
The Secretary of State, (2) The Secretary of the Treasury, 
(3) The Secretary of War, (4) The Attorney-General, (5) 
The Postmaster-General, (6) The Secretary of the Navy, (7) 
The Secretary of the Interior. The one succeeding to the 
Presidency serves during the remainder of the four years. 
Under this law it would hardly be possible for the country 
to be without a President for a single day. 

Another important law relating to the office of President 
was the Electoral Count Act. You remember that in 1876 
there was a great deal of trouble over the counting of the 
electoral votes by which the President was elected (p. 360). 
In 1887 Congress, in order to avoid any more trouble of that 
kind, passed a law providing that in the future each State 
should determine for itself the manner in which the electoral 
vote should be counted, and that when a State issues a cer- 
tificate announcing the result of the vote cast by its Presi- 
denial electors such certificate shall be accepted as the true 
result of the election in the State. 

Our New Navy. For many years after the Civil War very 
little was done for our navy. Few new ships had been built, 
and many of those that had been built during the war were 
allowed to fall to pieces through neglect. During the admin- 
istration of President Arthur, however. Congress began the 
work of building up a strong navy, and during Cleveland's 
administration this work was carried forward with great 
energy. In 1886 Congress provided for the building of a 
number of cruisers and battle-ships that were to be so well 
equipped that they would be able to give battle to the best 
ships afloat. After this our navy was never again neglected. 
On the contrary, it was constantly improved. More ships 



Z7(i 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



and bigger ones and 
better ones were built 
from time to time, and 
at last the American 
navy grew to be one of 
the largest and strong- 
est in the world. 

Bringing the Rail- 
roads Under Control. 
The most important 
law passed at this time 
was one regulating the 
railroads. We learned 
(p. 354) how the Gran- 
gers in several States 
secured from the State 
legislatures laws that 
fixed the rates that rail- 
roads might charge. But 
a State law could apply 
One of Uncle Sam's Fighting Sliips ^j^jy ^^ ^j^^ business car- 
ried on wiihin its ozvn houndarics. Where freight or passen- 
gers moved from one State to another the law of a State 
legislature had no effect ; only a law of Congress could control 
the interstate business of a railroad. Soon after Cleveland be- 
came President Congress found it necessary to exercise its 
authority and bring the interstate business of railroads under 
regulation. For the railroads were acting in a very bad man- 
ner. They were charging some shippers less for a service than 
other shippers were charged for the very same service ; they 
were giving free tickets to favored persons ; they were injuring 
some cities by charging high rates and building up other cities 
through low rates. 

In order to remedy some of these evils Congress in 1887 
passed the Interstate Commerce Law, regulating the inter- 
state business of railroads. The law requires that in the 




THE DEMOCRATS RETURN TO POWER 2>l-7 

matter of freight and passenger rates all persons and places 
shall be treated fairly; that convenient arrangements shall be 
made for the interchange of traffic between connecting rail- 
roads ; that free passes between places situated in dififerent 
States shall not be given ; that railroads shall print and make 
public their freight and passenger rates. At the same time, 
Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission, con- 
sisting of five (now nine) members, appointed by the Presi- 
dent. The duty of this Commission is to see that the rail- 
roads carry out the provisions of the Interstate Commerce 
Act. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was the first step 
taken by Congress to bring the railroads under the control of 
the national government. 

President Cleveland would gladly have gone still further 
in his plans for railway management. He asked Congress 
(in 1886) to pass a bill creating a commission that should 
have the power to settle in a peaceable way all controversies 
between railroad owners and railroad employees. But Con- 
gress failed to pass the bill. Nevertheless, it was now be- 
coming plain that sooner or later the government would have 
to take part in the settlement of disputes between the owners 
of the railroads and their employees. 

Labor Troubles; the Haymarket Affair. President Cleve- 
land wanted a commission, because he saw that all over the 
land there was trouble among railroad workers. Many lines 
of railroads were tied up completely. In New York City 
the employees of the street-car lines struck, and for a while 
not a car moved. In Texas there was a strike on a railroad 
because a man was discharged. A powerful labor organiza- 
tion demanded that the man be taken back. When this was 
refused a strike was ordered, and in many places there was 
violence and loss of property. In one city a crowd was fired 
upon and several persons were killed. 

Connected with these labor troubles was a terrible event 
known as the Haymarket affair. In Chicago, on the ist of 
May, 1886, a large body of workingmen who were striking for 



378 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



an eight-hour day held a mass meeting in Haymarket Square. 
The meeting was attended by some anarchists — men who 
beHeve that laws ought not to be obeyed and that government 
ought not to exist. Although it was not an anarchist meeting, 




The Haymarket Meeting 

one of the anarchists addressed it and shouted : " The law is 
your enemy. We are rebels against it ! " At this point two 
hundred policemen marched up and the crowd was ordered to 
disperse. At the moment the order was given a bomb with 
a lighted fuse was thrown into the ranks of the police. The 
bomb exploded, and killed and wounded sixty men. Several 
men were arrested and were charged with having assisted in 
committing the crime. Six were found guilty and sentenced 
to death. The man who actually threw the bomb escaped. 
It was good for the country that the anarchists were checked 



THE DEMOCRATS RETURN TO POWER 



379 



SO promptly. For an- F°" 
archy is downright law- [ 
lessness and is therefore ; 
an enemy of American- 
ism. Americans love 
Jaw and order and they 
demand law and order. 
If citizens have griev- 
ances, if they feel that 
they are not treated 
right under the law, 
they can make their 
wrongs known to the 
public and demand that 
the law be changed. 
And it will be changed 
if a majority of the 
voters so wish. Thus 
by peaceful means a 
remedy for grievances 
may be found. In 
America, therefore, 
there is no excuse what- 
ever for violence, and 
the person who resorts 
to the torch or the bomb 
is guilty of crime and deserves to be punished as a criminal. ^ 
Cleveland and the Tariff. Although President Cleveland 
was unable to secure from Congress many important laws 
that he desired, he nevertheless did not hesitate to ask for 
the passage of any measure he deemed wise. In 1887 he sent 
to Congress a message on the tariff. In this famous mes- 
sage he called attention to the fact that the sum of money 
that was being raised from tariff duties was much greater 
than the government really needed. He estimated that there 
would soon be heaped up in the vaults of the treasury nearly 




Benjamin Harrison 

Born in Ohio, in 1833; grandson of President 
W. H. Harrison; studied law; served in the 
Civil War; member of United States Senate; 
twenty-third President, 1889-93; died in 1901. 



38o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

$140,000,000 for which there would he no use. So he 
strongly recommended that the tariff duties he lowered, liut 
Congress did not follow his recommendation. A bill lower- 
ing the duties was passed in the House, which was controlled 
by the Democrats ; but in the Senate, where the Republicans 
had a majority, it failed to pass. 

Election of 1888. The question of the tariff became the 
great issue in the Presidential campaign in 1888. In that year 
the Democrats renominated Cleveland, and promised to lower 
the tariff if the voters would keep them in power. The Re- 
publicans nominated Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. In their 
platform they defended a high tariff, claiming that it resulted 
in better wages for workingmen and in greater profits for 
American manufacturers. Harrison received a majority of 
the electoral votes, although Cleveland received a larger 
popular vote than his opponent. On March 4, 1889, there- 
fore, the reins of government passed from the hands of the 
Democrats into the hands of the Republicans. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of the election of 1884. 

2. What were the provisions of the Presidential Succession Act? 
Of the Electoral Count Act? 

3. What was done in 1886 to strengthen our navy? 

4. Why was it necessary for the government to bring the railroads 
under control? What were the provisions of the Interstate Commerce 
Law of 1887? 

5. Describe the labor troubles of 1886. Give an account of the Hay- 
market affair. Why is anarchy un-American? 

6. Why did President Cleveland ask for the reduction of the tariff 
duties? 

7. Give an account of the election of 1888. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1664, 1776, 1825, 1850, i860, 1876. 

2. Persons : Balboa, Magellan, De Soto, William Penn, Hayes, Gar- 
field, Arthur, Edison. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Tories ; the Spoils System ; the Cap- 
ture of Mason and Slidell ; the Work of Reconstruction ; Alaska. 



LI 
CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY AND CAPTAINS OF LABOR 

About the time President Harrison entered (in 1889) upon his 
duties, remarkable changes were taking place in the industrial 
world. Enterprising men, often called " captains of industry," 
were bringing together large business concerns and causing them 
to be managed as a single enormous, company. At the same time 
leaders of workingmen, whom we may call '' captains of labor," 
were bringing together wage-earners and organizing them into 
powerful unions that could act as a single body. If, therefore, you 
wish to understand the history of this time, you must learn of the 
changes that were taking place in the business world and in the 
world of labor. 

The Appearance of Corporations. Before the Civil War, 
under the workings of the factory system (p. 292), some 
large business concerns made their appearance ; but for the 
most part they were owned and managed either by one per- 
son or by two or three persons who had combined their 
capital and formed a partnership. But even before the Civil 
W^ar it was sometimes found that the capital of one person, 
or even the combined capital of several persons, was not al- 
ways sufficient to carry forward large undertakings in a sat- 
isfactory manner. Especially was this true when it was a 
railroad that was to be built. 

For example, it was desirable to build a railroad that would 
cost $10,000,000. In those days no single person and no 
group of two or three persons had so large a sum to invest. 
How, then, was it possible to build the road? The persons 
undertaking to build it formed a corporation. And what is a 
corporation? It is a group of individuals authorized by law 
to act in respect to certain matters as one individual ; or, it 

381 



382 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

is a group of natural persons authorized to act as one artificial 
person. This artificial person, known as a corporation, can 
do many things that a natural person can not do, and it can 
do things on a large scale. The corporation having been 
formed, the managers of the proposed road proceeded to 
raise the necessary money. They offered 100,000 shares of 
$100 each to the farmers and merchants and mechanics and 
capitalists of the communities that would be benefited by the 
road. The offer was not made in vain. All the shares were 
taken, each person investing according to his ability or his 
willingness, some taking a single share, others ten shares, 
others a hundred. Thus through the agency of the corpo- 
ration the railroad was built. Thousands of persons assisted 
in building it and thousands shared in its profits. 

After the Civil War the corporation was brought into use 
not only for the operation of railroads but for carrying on 
almost any kind of business. By President Harrison's time 
corporations were weaving cloth ; they were controlling the 
manufacture and sale of much of the food that was eaten ; 
they were making dishes and kitchen utensils ; they were pub- 
lishing books ; they were lending money ; they were insuring 
lives ; they were carrying people from place to place on trolley- 
lines and railroads and steamboats. In fact, in whatever 
direction one turned in the financial or industrial or com- 
mercial world, there was the corporation. 

" Big" Business." Since under the corporation plan large 
numbers of persons could invest their money in a single con- 
cern, it was possible to organize companies of enormous size. 
And that is precisely what was done. After the Civil War 
business concerns were organized on a scale vastly larger 
than had ever been dreamed of before. Instead of starting 
in with a few thousand dollars, a company would often be- 
gin with an investment of many millions. 

A few figures will show you what was taking place in the 
business world at this time. In 1870 the number of iron- and 
steel-mills in the United States was 808, the average capital 



X 



CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY AND LABOR 



383 



invested by each mill 
being about $150,000. 
In 1890 the number of 
iron-mills was 719, the 
average capital invested 
by each mill being 
$575,000. In 1880 the 
number of establish- 
ments engaged in mak- 
ing reapers, plows, and 
other agricultural im- 
plements was 1,943, the 
average capital of each 
establishment being 
about $32,000. Ten 
years later the number 
of concerns making ag- 
ricultural implements 
was 910, the average 
capital of each concern 
being about $168,000. 
Take the leather indus- 
try : here the number of establishments fell from 7569 in 1870 
to 1787 in 1890, while the average capital of each establishment 
rose from about $8000 in 1870 to about $55,000 in 1890. TJiese 
figures show clearly that concerns were growing larger and 
larger and that the tendency of the times was toward " big 
business." 

Observe that as the concerns grew larger the nmnhcr of 
concerns grew smaller. This meant that the large companies 
were driving many smaller ones out of business. They could 
drive them out because the small concerns could not compete 
in the market with the large concern. Before the Civil War 
men were accustomed to say that competition was the life of 
trade. And in most cases this was true. For in those days 
business men were not afraid of competition. Any concern 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Men at Work in a Big Shoe Factory 



384 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

that managed its affairs wisely and produced goods that were 
in demand could look forward to profits, for it entered the 
market on something like an equal footing with its competitors. 
But after the war many a small concern found that competition 
was the death of trade. For the large concern, being able 
to manufacture goods in immense quantities, sold them at a 
very small profit and still made a great deal of money ; while 
the small concern, attempting to sell its goods at the price 
charged by its great rival, was ruined. 

The Trusts. The driving of small concerns from the field 
was only the beginning of the struggles of competition. For 
in every important industry there were now many big com- 
panies, and these had to compete with each other. When a 
big corporation went into the market to compete with another 
big corporation, it was diamond cut diamond and the struggle 
was fierce and costly. Indeed, the big companies found that 
competition was so destructive of their profits that it would 
be better if they did not compete with one another at all. So 
they tried this way and that to avoid competition. 

They were not long in finding a new method. Early in the 
Eighties the big companies began to form what are generally 
known as trusts. And what is a trust? It is simply a combi- 
nation of corporations; it is a number of corporations joined 
together in such a way that for most purposes they can transact 
business as a single concern. But a company can hardly be 
called a trust unless it is big enough and powerful enough to 
control the prices of the goods it manufactures. So we may 
say that a trust is an industrial giant that owns or controls such 
a large proportion of the factories engaged in making a certain 
kind of goods that it can control the price at which such goods 
shall be sold. 

The trust method proving to be satisfactory to the plans 
of those who wanted to stifle competition, the industrial giants 
came thick and fast. In the Eighties about forty oil com- 
panies combined their interests and formed the famous Stand- 
ard Oil Trust ; about twenty sugar refineries joined to form 



CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY AND LABOR 



385 



the Sugar Trust ; scores of concerns united and formed the 
Tobacco Trust. It was about this time also that founda- 
tions were laid for the Lumber Trust and the Tin Plate Trust, 
and that greatest of all industrial giants, the Steel Trust. 
Kt/ombinations of Workingmen. And what were the work- 
ingmen doing at this time? They were following the ex- 
ample of their employers. Just as employers were combining 
their capital to form 
powerful corporations, 
employees were combin- 
ing and forming power- 
ful labor unions. As we 
have learned, there were 
labor unions before the 
CivilWar (p. 268). But 
in those days a labor 
union was usually a 
small afifair. Moreover, 
it was in most cases a 
local affair ; the plumb- 
ers' union of Philadel- 
phia, for example, had 
no connection with the 
plumbers' union of Bos- 
ton, or with that of New 
York. After the war, 
however, the trade un- 
ions that hitherto had been local and independent of each other 
united and formed one great national trade union composed of 
thousands and in some cases of hundreds of thousands, of 
workingmen engaged in the same occupation. 

For what purpose did the workingmen combine? Chiefly 
in order to secure better wages and a shorter working-day. 
They wanted a wage that would enable them to buy a fair 
share of the good things of life, and they wanted a working- 
day that would be short enough to give them leisure for 




Biff 1 



Mills. Aliiuicapwlis in the 
Eighties 



386 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



amusements, for recreation, and for self-improvement. Be- 
sides higher wages and shorter hours, they asked for laws 
that would benefit workingmen. They demanded a child- 
labor law that would forbid the employment of children, be- 
cause they wanted their children to attend school. They de- 
manded that work in mines and factories be done under san- 
itary conditions, because they wanted to safeguard their lives. 

In fact, they were in favor of any- 
thing that tended to lift the work- 
ingman up and they opposed any- 
thing that tended to drag him down. 
^' Knights of Labor; American 
Federation of Labor. But work- 
ingmen now were no longer con- 
tent to be organized simply as trade 
unions. By President Harrison's 
time they were joining their forces 
''on a much broader and extensive 
scale, attempting to unite into one 
association the workingmen of 
every trade. One society, the 
Knights of Labor, admitted not 
only the wage-earners of the dif- 
ferent trades, but nearly all classes 
of persons over sixteen, whatever might be their occupation. 
The Knights demanded that women be given the right to 
vote ; that the working-day should consist of eight hours ; that 
the government should own the railroads ; and that children 
under fourteen years of age should not be employed as wage- 
earners. In 1882 the Knights had a membership of 140,000; 
in 1886 a membership of 730,000. Thus at the very time the 
giant corporation appeared the giant labor organization also 
appeared. 

The Knights of Labor grew weaker both in power and in 
numbers after 1886. Nevertheless, the combination of work- 
ingmen on a grand scale continued ; for the American Feder- 
ation of Labor was now coming to the front. This greatest 




A Captain of Industry- 
Andrew Carnegie 



CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY AND LABOR 



387 



of all American labor organizations was formed for the pur- 
pose of uniting the trade unions into a single body. The 
central government — that is, the government of the Federa- 
tion — attends to matters of general concern, to matters in 
which workingmen in every trade have an interest. The Fed- 
eration tries to secure the passage of laws that will benefit 
workingmen; it encourages the sale of goods tliat have the 
union label on them ; it tries by 
peaceful and lawful methods to in- 
fluence public opinion in favor of 
organized labor. The Federation 
met the needs of the workingmen, 
and it saw its membership grow 
from 262,000 in 1881 to nearly 
;^,p6o,ooo in 1920. 

/Captains of Industry and Cap- 
tains of Labor. While the Trusts 
were forming and the workingmen 
were combining into great associa- 
tions, there came to the front two 
classes of leaders who were new to 
American life. These were the 
" captains of industry," the men 
who were foremost in building u;^ 
the Trusts, and the " captains of labor," the men who took the 
lead in organizing the workingmen. The " captains of in- 
dustry " grew enormously rich. For you must know that 
while immense volumes of business were passing into the 
hands of the Trusts immense streams of money were run- 
ning into the pockets of a few individuals. 

Andrew Carnegie, who in his early youth worked in a fac- 
tory as a bobbin-boy for twenty cents a day, was in the 
Eighties building up a steel business that was making him one 
of the richest men in the world. John D. Rockefeller, who 
began life as a clerk, was now the head of the Standard Oil 
Company and was coming into wealth that was already being 
counted by the tens of millions of dollars and that was one 




A Captain of Labor- 
Samuel Gompers 



388 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

day to be counted by the hundreds of milHons of dollars. 
Never before in the history of money-making were fortunes 
built up so rapidly as they were built up by the captains of 
industry in the early days of the Trusts. 

The captains of labor amassed no fortunes but as leaders of 
vast bodies of workingmen they acquired positions of great 
power. Mr. Terrence V. Powderly as the head of the 
Knights . of Labor exerted an influence among workers that 
startled the country. Mr. Samuel Gompers, the head of the 
American Federation of Labor, pushed to the front as a 
captain of labor and for more than thirty years \Yas a fore- 
most figure in the industrial life of the nation, v 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Why did business men find it desirable to form' corporations? 
To what extent had the corporations been brought into use by Presi- 
dent Harrison's time? 

2. Show that the corporation led to " big business." What effect did 
big business have upon the smaller concerns ? 

3. Why did the big corporations wish to avoid competition? What 
was the pooling agreement f What is a Trust? Name some of the 
leading Trusts. 

4. What was the usual organization of the labor union before the 
Civil War? What change took place after the war? 

5. Give an account of the Knights of Labor. 

6. Give an account of the American Federation of Labor. 

7. Who were the "captains of industry"? The "captains of labor"? 
Name two leading captains of industry; two leading captains of labor. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1664, 1787, 1825, 1865, 1876. 

2. Persons : DeSoto, Champlain, Whitney, Morse, Clay, Webster, 
Johnson. 

3. Tell what you can about : The Line of Demarcation ; the Pilgrims ; 
the Puritans; the Pennsylvania Dutch; the Scotch-Irish. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Manufacturing; Steps in the Forma- 
tion of the Union ; the Tarifif ; Americanism. 

5. Reading References : 

History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida M. Tarbell ; Expansion 
of the American People, by E. E. Sparks; Monopoly and Trusts, by 
R. T. Ely. 



LII 

THE NEW WEST; CONTROL OF "BIG BUSINESS" 

In the campaign of 1888 the Republicans promised that if their 
candidate should be elected they would try to secure the passage 
of laws admitting several Territories of the far West that were 
seeking to become States. They also promised laws that would 
protect the people against the schemes of the giant corporations 
described in the last chapter. Since their candidate was elected, 
it became necessary for them to deal with problems connected 
with the development of the far West, and it was also necessary 
for them to attempt to bring " big business " under control. 

The New Northwest. One of the first duties of President 
Harrison was to proclaim the admission of a number of new 
States that had risen in the far West. By 1883 the Northern 
Pacific Railroad (p. 354) had been completed and trains were 
running from Duluth to Portland. The Northern Pacific 
served as a mighty channel of trade on which the products 
of the Northwest could start on their journey to all parts of 
the world. All sections of the country through which the 
new road passed felt its benefits immediately, and within seven 
years after the completion of the great highway five States 
were organized in the Northwest. In 1889 the great Terri- 
tory of Dakota (p. 291) was divided and organized into two 
States — North Dakota and South Dakota — which came 
into the Union on the same day. In less than a week after- 
ward Montana was admitted, and three days after the ad- 
mission of Montana the Territory of Washington (p. 291) 
became a State. In 1890 the population of Washington was 
only a little more than 20,000, but as soon as the railroad had 
connected Puget Sound with the Great Lakes, Washington 
began to grow at a wonderful rate. In a few years its popu- 

389 



390 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



lation jumped to half a million. Tacoma was transformed 
from a village in 1880 to a city of 36,000 in 1890, and the 
growth of Seattle and Spokane was even more wonderful. 




Seattle in 1879 and in 1910 

The political organization of the new Northwest was com- 
pleted in 1890, when Idaho was admitted as a State. ^ 

Nothing in the history of the westward movement is more 
remarkable than the rapid growth of the new Northwest. 
Men still living can tell you of the time when they traveled 
through this region on horseback for days and did not see a 
single human being ; yet to-day the country is the home of a 
flourishing civilization. And the development of the North- 
west has only fairly begun. The Dakotas, with their broad 
bonanza farms, already hold high rank as wheat-growing 
States; yet their yield of grain is growing larger and larger 
all the time. The grazing area of Montana is as large as 
Illinois, its mining area is as large as Ohio, and its farming 
area is as large as Pennsylvania. Idaho is rich in mines and 
forests and is rapidly pushing to the front as a wool-growing 
State. Washington is already a rich ajid populous State, 



1 In the Central West, Wyoming was made a State in 1890 and Utah 
in 1896. 



Greenwich 105' 




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peia.!.,--^ G^rar.^<S 



%X Uberdeen° 



{ / admitted Y^ 



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tted 189P X:;? ' I <; B. A Fremont I pes 

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admitted 1876 

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admitted 1^12 



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THE NEW WEST; CONTROL OF "BIG BUSINESS" 391 

yet its great commercial advantages 
and its natural resources, its har- 
bors, its forests, its mines, its graz- 
ing-lands, will make it far richer 
and more populous than it now is. 

The New Southwest. \\'hile the 
Union Pacific was opening up the 
Central West and the Northern Pa- 
cific the new Northwest, another 
great line (the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe) was extending civil- Tlie I'irst rublic Schoul 
ization into the unoccupied regions Building in South Dakota 
of the new Southwest — western Texas, Oklahoma, .Aj-izona 
and New Mexico. By 1880 one could travel by rail from Kan- 
sas City to Santa Fe, and three years later the journey could be 
continued on to Los Angeles. 

From the main line of the Santa Fe connecting roads were 
built southward, and these hastened the development of north- 
ern and western Texas. In 1883 a branch of the Santa Fe 
reached El Paso, which was soon connected wath the Gulf 
ports by the Texas and Pacific. The immense vacant areas 
of the Lone Star State now began to fill up with people. San 
Antonio, Fort Worth, and Dallas soon became important in- 
land centers of trade, while Galveston and Houston took 
their places among the great exporting cities of the United 
States. 

The building of the Santa Fe also hastened the develop- 
ment of the Oklahoma country, the region that was given to 
the Indians when they were moved from their homes east of 
the Mississippi (p. 242), and that for a long time was known 
as the " Indian Territory." With the coming of the railroad 
many " palefaces " — the Indians' name for white men — 
found their way into the red man's country. Piece by piece 
the Indians gave up their lands, and it was not long before a 
large part of the Indian country was in possession of white 
men. In 1890 the western portion of the so-called Indian 



392 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Territory was erected into a real Territory and given the 
name of Oklahoma. Great tracts of public lands were now 
thrown open to settlers, and the rush to Oklahoma Territory 
was one of the wildest in the whole history of the westward 
movement. The chief object of the race was to secure land. 

Sometimes men would 
jump from the win- 
dows of rapidly moving 
trains and scamper 
across the country in 
order to be the first to 
reach and lay claim to 
some desirable tract. 

Dealing Fairly with 
the Indians. While the 
white man was taking 
possession of the West 
in this rapid fashion, 
the red man suffered. 
The Indians saw that 
the day would soon 
come when they could 
no longer roam over 
the broad lands in their 

An Oil Field in the New Southwest old free way, and they 
Showing a Gusher g^^^ ^^^ ^j^j^^ settlers 

a great deal of trouble. Many little Indian wars were fought, 
and hundreds of our soldiers lost their lives. Most of these 
wars were due to the white man's desire for the red man's land, 
and often the white man was to blame for the trouble. " The 
Indians," said President Hayes, " have been driven from 
place to place. In many instances, when they had settled 
down upon lands assigned to them by compact and begun to 
support themselves by their own labor, they were rudely 
jostled off and thrust into the wilderness again." 

But after a while we began to deal with the Indians more 
justly and fairly. In 1887 Congress passed the Dawes Bill. 




THE NEW WEST; CONTROL OF " Btq BUSINESS" 393 

This provided that an Indian who was the head of a family 
might receive one hundred and sixty acres of land and be 
allowed to hold it in private ownership, just as other people 
hold their land. The Indian holding land in this way was 
given the rights of citizenship, for upon receiving the land 
he ceased to be a member of any Indian tribe and became a 
citizen of the United States. Under the workings of the 
Dawes Bill many thousands of Indians became the owners 
of farms and began to enjoy the rights of American citizen- 
ship. 

About this time, too, our government began to give more 
attention to the needs of the Indians who were living on the 
reservations. During the administration of Cleveland and 
Harrison Congress began to spend money for the education 
of Indian children and to look after the interests of the red 
man in other ways, and ever since the Indians on the reserva- 
tions have been the object of governmental care. 

Big Business and the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. We have 
already learned (pp. 382-385) with what mighty strides the 
Trusts were marching onward about the time of Harrison's 
election ; how they were combining and stifling competition 
and driving smaller concerns out of business. By 1890 the 
people were demanding that something be done to check the 
march of the industrial giants. Accordingly Congress, in re- 
sponse to the demands of the people, passed the Sherman Anti- 
Trust Law. This famous law declared that persons entering 
into combinations for the purpose of suppressing competition 
should be punished by fine and imprisonment. It also de- 
clared war against monopoly. " Every person," said the law, 
" who shall monopolize or attempt to monopolize any part 
of the trade or commerce among the several States, shall be 
deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall 
be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both." It was the 
hope of our statesmen that this law would curb the Trusts 
and remedy the evils of " big business." We shall learn 
hereafter (p. 429) to what extent their hopes were realized. 



394 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The McKinley Tariff. The Democrats declared that a good 
way to crush Trusts would be to lower the tariff duties, con- 
tending that the growth of many of the great manufacturing 
establishments was due to the fact that they were shielded 
from competition with foreign goods by the high duties on 
imports. But the Republicans took a different view of the 




Steamers Passing Through the " Soo " Locks in the Great Lakes 

matter. It will be remembered that in 1888 the Republicans 
won the election on the tariff issue (p. 380). Their victory 
caused them to believe that the people wanted a new tariff 
law. In 1890 William McKinley, a leader of the Republicans 
in Congress, came forward with a tariff measure that raised 
the duties on imports higher than they had ever been before. 
The duties on some articles were placed so high that the goods 
were kept out of the country altogether, for they could not 
be imported with profit. The duties on cotton and woolen 
goods and on many kinds of foods were especially high. The 
Democrats who opposed the bill said that it would raise prices, 
but McKinley replied that he was not afraid of high prices. 
" I do not prize the word cheap," he said, " it is not a word 
of hope ; it is not a word of cheer. Cheap merchandise means 



THE NEW WEST; CONTROL OF "BIG BUSINESS" 395 

cheap men, and cheap men mean a cheap country." Mc- 
Kinley succeeded in persuading Congress to pass this bill, and 
it became a law in 1890. 

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act. While Congress was 
dealing with the Trusts and the tariff, it was at the same 
time called upon to deal with another que^ion that was as 
serious as any that had arisen since the Civil War. This was 
the silver question. From the foundation of the government 
until the year 1873 ^^''^ coining of silver had been free. Any 
one who had silver bullion (uncoined silver) could take it to 
one of our mints and have it coined into silver dollars. The 
coinage of gold during this time was also free. From 1834' 
to 1873 the ratio between silver and gold was 16 to i ; that is, 
a silver dollar was practically sixteen times as heavy as a 
gold dollar. In 1873 Congress discontinued the free coinage 
of silver and made gold the unit of value, leaving the coin- 
age of gold free, as before. In 1878 there was a demand for 
the coinage of silver, and in that year the Bland-Allison Act 
provided that our government should buy not less than two 
million dollars' worth and not more than four million dollars' 
worth of silver bullion each month and coin it into silver 
dollars. The law continued in fqrce for twelve years, and 
under its workings nearly $400,000,000 in silver was coined. 
In 1890 the Bland- Allison Act was repealed and a law known 
as the Sherman Purchase Act was passed. Under this law 
the government was to purchase each month 4,500,000 ounces 
of silver at the market price, and pay for the silver with 
treasury notes, which could be presented by the holder to the 
Secretary of the Treasury and be redeemed either in silver 
or gold, as the Secretary might decide. 

Election of 1892. The Anti-Trust Act was approved by 
the people of the entire country, and the Silver Purchase Act 
was hailed with delight by the owners of silver-mines in the 
far West ; but the McKinley Tariff Law proved to be an ex- 
tremely unpopular measure. This was shown in the Con- 
gressional election in 1890, when the Democrats came out 



396 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

squarely against the high tariff, and as a result 235 Demo- 
cratic members of Congress were elected, while the Repub- 
licans elected only 88. No wonder, then, that the tariff was 
a leading issue in the Presidential election of 1892. The 
Democrats that year promised that they would repeal the Mc- 
Kinley Law, and nominated ex-President Cleveland as their 
candidate. The Repuljlicans renominated President Plarrison 
and declared for a high tariff. The main issue of the cam- 
paign, therefore, was the tariff; and on this issue the Demo- 
crats swept the country, not only electing their candidate for 
President, but gaining control also of both branches of Con- 
gress, something they had not done since the election of 
Buchanan in 1856. So it seemed that in 1892 the people were 
not so well pleased with the system of high tariff and pro- 
tection as they had been four years before (p. 380). 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Tell the story of the development of the New Northwest. 

2. Tell the story of the development of the New Southwest. 

3. \\ hat was the chief cause of trouble with the Indians after the 
Civil War? What were the provisions of the Dawes Bill? 

4. Why was it necessary for the government to attempt to bring 
"big business" under control? What were the provisions of the 
Anti-Trust Act? 

5. Describe the McKinley Tariff. 

6. What was the practice of our Government in regard to silver he- 
fore 1873? What was done in regard to it in 1873? In 1890? 

7. Give an account of the election of 1892. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1643, 1689, 1781, 1782, 1863, 1876. 

2. Persons : Edmund Andros, Lafayette, George Rogers Clark, 
Cornwallis, Van Buren, Johnson, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Edison, 
Cleveland. 

3. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Westward Alovement ; Means 
of Communication; Indians and Indian Wars; the Tariff; Bankruptcy 
and Currency; the Growth of Cities; Commerce. 

4. Reading References : 

(i) Seattle: Hotchkiss, 32-43. 
(2) Duluth: Hotchkiss, 74-86. 
{3) Trusts: Dewey, 188-202. 



LIII 

HARD TIMES 

In the chapters that we have just been studying a great deal was 
said about the prosperity of the country. But this, prosperity was 
not to continue unbroken. About 1893 it began to grow less and a 
period of adversity followed. In fact, the history of the country 
for the four years following the close of Harrison's administra- 
tion is largely a story of hard times. 

World's Columbian Exposition. When President Cleve- 
land began his duties as President for the second time (March 
4, 1893), he cotild see breakers ahead, for afifairs were in an 
unsettled condition and there was much discontent through- 
out the land. Nevertheless, with his countrymen, he could 
forget for a moment the troubles of the nation and view with 
pride and satisfaction the wonders of the World's Columbian 
Exposition, which he was called upon to open soon after his 
inauguration. This Exposition was held at Chicago, its pur- 
pose being to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary 
of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. It 
was officially opened in October, 1892, but visitors were not 
admitted until May, 1893. 

When the President touched the electric button the wheels 
of the great engines began to revolve, fountains began to 
play, chimes began to ring, curtains in front of the platform 
parted to show models of the three boats of Columbus (p. 15), 
the flags of many nations were unfurled, cannon boomed, 
bands played, and the people cheered wildly. And they did 
well to cheer wildly, for the Exposition was the greatest the 
world had yet seen. Its buildings occupied 660 acres of 
ground. The largest building, the one devoted to manufac- 

397 



398 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



tufes and the liberal arts, covered 25 acres. The total cost 
of the Exposition was nearly $40,000,000. The number of 
paid admissions was more than 22,000,000. 

Repeal of the Purchase Clause of the Sherman Act. The 










id 




The Columbian Exposition 

first thing to give President Cleveland trouble was the silver 
question. At the very beginning of his second term the silver 
i:)roblem came up in a form that demanded immediate atten- 
tion. We saw that in 1890 the government under the Sherman 
Purchase Act began to buy silver and pay for it in treasury 
notes (p. 395). By 1893 these notes amounted to $150,000.- 
000, and, in the opinion of many leading financiers, their is- 
sue was becoming a source of danger to the business world. 
President Cleveland regarded them as dangerous, and soon 
after his inauguration called a special .session of Congress to 
consider the repeal of the Sherman Purchase Act. After 
three months of stormy debate in Congress the purchasing 
clause of the Sherman Act was repealed (October, 1893) ; no 
more silver was to be bought and no more treasury notes 
(P- 395) with which to pay for the silver were to be issued. 
This action of Congress pleased many people in the East, but 
it was a hard blow to the Western people, who felt that 
silver ought to be used as a basis for the money that they 
needed in the transaction of their business. 



HARD TIMES 399 

The Wilson Tariff; the Income Tax. You remember that 
it was on the tariff issue that the Democrats came into power 
in 1892 (p. 396). It was to be expected, therefore, that they 
would give the country a new tariff. Just as soon as they 
had disposed of the silver question they took up the tariff 
question. In December, 1893, WilHam L. Wilson, chairman of 
the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representa- 
tives, came forward with a bill to reduce the tariff in accord- 
ance with the pledges made during the campaign. After a 
debate that lasted far into the summer of 1894, the bill became 
a law (August, 1894). The Wilson Bill did not disturb the 
existing rates to any great extent. Still, some of the rates 
were lowered, and it was believed that under the workings of 
the new law the revenue of the government would be reduced. 
In order to provide sufficient revenue. Congress levied a tax 
on incomes of more than $4,000. This income tax, however, 
was declared by the Supreme Court of the United States to 
be contrary to the Constitution, and it was not collected. So 
no revenue was received from the income tax of 1894. This 
was a great disappointment to millions of voters who be- 
lievpd^hat it was right and just that incomes should be taxed. 
^/^aniC" of 1893; Labor Troubles. While Congress was 
wrestling with these great problems the country was passing 
through one of the worst panics in our history. The period 
of suffering began about the time Cleveland entered upon his 
second term, and is known as the panic of 1893. The hard 
times lasted for several years and the distress reached all 
classes of people. Business men who had been rich found 
themselves poor. Hundreds of thousands of laboring men 
were thrown out of employment, and in many cities there 
was suffering from starvation and cold. 
;/ The hard times led to unrest among workingmen and to 



&^ 



strikes and riots. During the winter of 1893-94 groups of idle 
men organized as little armies, with the purpose of march- 
ing to Washington and demanding relief at the hands of 
Congress. One of these bands, led by J. S. Coxey and known 



400 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

as Coxey's Army, actually reached Washington. But the 
moment Coxey set foot upon the Capitol grounds he was ar- 
rested for trespassing upon the grass. His army of a few 
dozen men soon dwindled away. 

But the most serious outbreak during this time of panic 
was in Chicago. In 1894 the wages of the employees of the 
Pullman Car Company (located near Chicago) were reduced, 
and there was a strike. The employees of many railroads 
centering in Chicago were in sympathy with the strikers and 
refused to handle Pullman cars. Mobs gathered in the 
freight-yards, and hundreds of cars were burned. The mails 
of the United States were obstructed, and in order to pro- 
tect the mails President Cleveland sent ■ regular troops to 
Chicago. Shortly after the arrival of the troops the rioting 
ceased and the strike came to an end. M 

The Venezuela Boundary Dispute. President Cleveland 
had hardly finished with the rioting in Chicago before he was 
called upon to deal with a serious question relative to foreign 
affairs. The trouble arose with Great Britain. In 1895 it 
seemed that Great Britain was about to extend the western 
boundary of British Guiana and thus encroach upon the ter- 
ritory of Venezuela. This was contrary to the Monroe Doc- 
trine (p. 222), which says that a European power has no 
right to add any more territory to its American possessions. 
President Cleveland determined to uphold the Monroe Doc- 
.trine. In a message to Congress he hinted strongly that if 
Great Britain should extend her borders farther than was 
agreeable to the United States her act would be regarded as 
unfriendly. The message created a great deal of excitement 
and there was talk of war. But arrangements were made to 
settle the afifair by arbitration. So it was not necessary for the 
two great nations to come to blows. 

A few "jingoes" — men who are over-fond of fighting — 
would have been glad if the Venezuela question had led to 
war. But the people generally demanded that the dispute 
be settJed in an honorable and at the same time peaceful man- 



HARD TIMES 



401 



ner. In making this demand they were voicing the spirit of 
true Amercanism. For we are a peace-loving nation. If 
war must come we know how to meet it Hke men ; but if 
peace can be main- 
tained by honorable 
means, then our cry 
always is for peace. 
" Pe a c e," said 
Thomas Jefferson, 
" is our passion." 

Election of 1896. 
At the end of Cleve- 
land's second ad- 
uiinistration the 
country was still 
suffering from hard 
times. The Repub- 
licans blamed the 
Democratic party 
for the distress, 
claiming that the 
Wilson Bill had in- 
jured the manufac- 
turing interests and 
brought on financial ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

depression. So i n @ Underwood & underwood 

1896, when the Re- William McKinley 

publicans came to Bornjn ^01.^^ ir^^.843.^se^^^^^ 

nominate a candi- ^--dent, .897-1901; died in .90.. 
date for President, they chose a high-tariff champion. William 
McKinley of Ohio. The Democrats contended that the hard 
times were due, not to the Wilson Bill, not to a low tariff, 
but to a scarcity. of money; and they demanded that the gov- 
ernment should coin, at the ratio of 16 to i, all the silver that 
might be brought to its mints, as it had been accustomed to 
do before 1873 (p. 395). They nominated as their candidate 




402 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 




William Jennings Bryan of Ne- 
braska. Since the People's party 
was in favor of the free coinage of 
silver, it also nominated Mr. Bryan. 
The campaign of 1896 v^^as one of 
the hardest fought political battles 
in all our history. The Republicans 
vv^arned the voters of the disasters 
that would come upon the country if 
silver should be coined at the rate of 
16 to I. The market price of the 
silver metal in a hundred silver dol- 
lars in 1896 was worth about sixty- 
William Jennings Bryan """"e dollars in gold. Since this was 
Born at Salem Illinois, in i860; so, the Republicans contended that 

member of Congress; three ^ 

times the nominee of the Dem- yndcr frCC COiuagC pCOplc WOUld al- 
ocratic party for the Presidency; t>^ 1 ^^^^ ^ .ywiuv.. ^ 

Secretary of State, 1913-1915. ways pay their dcbts in silver; if a 
man owed $ioo, he would take $69 in gold, buy silver with it, 
get the silver coined into one hundred silver dollars, and pay 
his debt. Such a transaction, the Republicans said, would 
bring disgrace and dishonor upon the nation. To meet this 
argument the Democrats asserted that under a free coinage law 
there would be an enormous demand for silver and that this 
would raise the market value of the white metal. 

The campaign of 1896 stirred the country to its depths. 
Bryan was not well known at the time of his nomination ; 
but he was an accomplished orator and proved to be a 
brilliant campaigner. " In fourteen weeks he made six hun- 
dred speeches, he traveled eighteen thousand miles, and it is 
estimated that nearly five million persons came within the 
sound of his voice." When the bitter contest was over and 
the votes were counted, it was found that McKinley had re- 
ceived 271 electoral votes and that Bryan had received 176. 
Of the popular vote McKinley received 7,111,607, while Bryan 
received 6,502,600. 

Silver Question Postponed; the Dingley Bill. The Re- 



HARD TIMES 403 

publicans won their victory on the silver issue, yet they were 
in reality not so much interested in silver as they were in the 
tariff. They contended that the Wilson Bill was a failure be- 
cause it did not furnish enough revenue to meet the expenses 
of government and because it did not protect our manufac- 
tures from foreign competition. Accordingly, they decided 
that action on the silver question could be wisely postponed, 
and that the first thing to be done was to give the country 
a new tariff law. President McKinley, agreeing to this plan, 
soon after his inauguration (March 4, 1897) called an extra 
session of Congress to deal with the tariff question. In July 
the Dingley Tariff Bill was passed and the Wilson Bill re- 
pealed. The Dingley law raised the duties even higher than 
those of the McKinley Tariff (p. 394), and the rates of that 
tariff, you remember, were very high indeed. The Dingley 
law was liked by the manufacturers, and after its enactment 
it was twelve years before another important tariff law was 
passed. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Describe the World's Columbian Exposition. 

2. Why was the purchase clause of the Sherman Act repealed? 

3. Give an account of the income tax law of 1894. 

4. Describe the panic of 1893, and give an account of the labor 
troubles that occurred at this time. 

5. What was the Venezuela boundary dispute, and how was it 
settled ? 

6. Give a full account of the election of 1896. 

7. Describe the Dingley Bill. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

r. Dates: 1803, 1821, i860, 1865, 1877. 

2. Tell what you can about: the Northwest Territory; the Conven- 
tion of 1787; the Ordinance of 1787; the Era of Good Feeling; the 
Monroe Doctrine ; the Impeachment of Johnson ; " Uncle Tom's Cabin." 

3. Reviews of Great Subjects: the Presidents, their Election and 
Inauguration; the Currency; the Tariff; Foreign Relations since 1789. 

4. Reading References : 

(i) Labor Disturbances: Dewey, 288-296. 

(2) Campaign of Free Coinage : Dewey, 314-328. 



LIV 
THE UNITED STATES A WORLD POWER 

For more than a hundred years the United States held a place 
to itself far apart from the other countries of the globe. It main- 
tained friendly relations with the nations of the Old World and 
traded with them, but outside of this it had very little to do with 
them. In the very last years of the nineteenth century, however, 
we abandoned our old policy of holding aloof from foreign affairs. 
Indeed, we were compelled to abandon it. Events brought us into 
touch with distant nations in a way that made it necessary for us 
to mingle with other nations. The result was, our interests soon 
became world-wide and the United States became a world power. 

War with Spain. Soon after the Republicans rettirned to 
power in 1897, the minds of the people began to turn from 
questions like the tariff and free silver to things that were 
taking place outside of the country. Hardly had the Dingley 
Bill been passed than Congress was called upon to deal with 
a serious situation in Cuba. This island had for a century 
been an object of interest and concern to the people of the 
United States. Jefiferson and John Ouincy Adams thought 
we ought to own Ctiba, and attempts were made from time 
to time during the nineteenth century to annex the island to 
this country. Spain, however, continued to hold Cuba long 
after she had lost most of her other possessions in America. 
Cuba was unhappy under Spanish rule, and in rebellion 
after rebellion struggled hard to throw off the foreign yoke. 
The last Cuban rebellion began in 1895, and the measures 
taken by Spain to put down the uprising were so cruel and 
bloody that the people of the United States felt that our 
government ought to interfere and stop the inhuman war- 
fare. Our government did protest (June i, 1897), and Spain 

404 



THE UNITED STATES A WORLD POWER 



405 



promised that Cuba should have self-government. But the 
Cuban rebellion continued nevertheless, and the relations be- 
tween Spain and the United States grew worse and worse. 
In February, 1898, President McKinley ordered the battle- 
ship Maine to Cuban waters, and the vessel, while lying in 




The Spanish-American War in the West Indies 



the harbor of Havana, was destroyed by an explosion. Two 
hundred and fifty sailors and officers lost their lives. Spain 
declared that she was in no way responsible for the explosion. 
A board of naval officers, after an examination, reported that 
the Maine had been destroyed by the explosion of a submarine 
mine ; but the board was unable to fix the responsibility upon 
any person or persons. 

The people of the United States, whether justly or unjustly, 
blamed the Spaniards for the destruction of the Maine, and 
there was a clamor for war against Spain. On April 24, 1898, 
war was officially declared by Congress. The President called 
for 125,000 volunteer troops, and the response came from all 
parts of the country. Soldiers who in the Civil War had 
worn the gray fought in the Spanish- American War side by 
side with those who had worn the blue. 



4o6 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The first battle of the war with Spain was a naval engage- 
ment. On May i Commodore (afterward Admiral) Dewey 
attacked a Spanish fleet that was stationed in Manila Bay, 
Philippine Islands, and after a battle lasting half a day ten 
Spanish ships were sunk or destroyed and more than six hun- 
dred Spanish sailors were killed or wounded. The Americans 




ihe Capture of the Block House at San Juan 

did not lose a single ship or a single man. Dewey was soon 
reinforced by land troops under General Merritt, and on Au- 
gust 13 the city of Manila was taken. Thus the Philippine 
Islands, which had been held by Spain from the days of 
Magellan, (p. 20) fell into the hands of the United States. 

The fighting in Cuba took place near the city of Santiago. 
On May 19 a Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera entered the 
harbor of this city, where they were blockaded by a strong 
American fleet under Admiral Sampson. On June 3 Lieuten- 
ant Richard Hobson undertook to " bottle up " the Spanish 
fleet within the Santiago harbor. With several companions 



THE UNITED STATES A WORLD POWER 



407 



lie conducted the coal-ship Merritnac to the narrowest place 
in the channel and there sank it. Hobson and his men were 
captured. In the meantime our land troops were gathering 
around Santiago. On July i El Caney and San Juan Hill, 
the outer defenses of Santiago, were assaulted by the Amer- 
icans, and after two days' fighting were carried by storm. In 
this struggle distinguished service was rendered by the Rough 
Riders, a regiment made up of cow-boys, hunters, ranchmen, 
Indians, and college graduates. Dr. Leonard Wood was the 
colonel of this regiment, and Theodore Roosevelt the lieuten- 
ant-colonel. 

When Cervera saw that Santiago was doomed, he sailed out 
of the harbor — he was not " bottled up," after all. But he 
was not allowed to escape. His ships were attacked by the 
American fleet commanded by Admiral Sampson, and within 
a few hours they were destroyed. In this engagement the 
American fleet was directed by Commodore Schley, the actual 
commander being absent, though 
not out of sight of the fighting at 
the time of the engagement. 
Soon after the destruction of the 
Spanish fleet Santiago surrendered 
(July 17). On July 25 General 
Miles captured Porto Rico. 

Spain was now ready for peace, 
and in August, by the terms of a 
preliminary treaty, agreed to sur- 
render all claim to Cuba and to 
cede to the United States Porto 
Rico and all other Spanish islands 
in the West Indies. Further on in 
the peace negotiations Spain also 
agreed to give up to the United 
States all sovereignty over the ^he Philippines 

Philippine Islands, receiving therefor the sum of $20,000,000. 
Thus the Spanish War gave us the Philippine Islands and Porto 



Dagui 



Mai. 




.taiiila 

Manila Bay/ ^': 
SOUTH --C-^O^ ,v^.- 

CHINA ^-^yj^^^^ 

S U L TT ^.-N, .-,f -Tl.v[ 

SEA z:^ MINDANAO 

«;■ • .rSULU \: 
BRITCSM^x\ • ■■•. .^ISLANDS 
NORTH. BORStJO ^'^■ 

ij!/- CELEBES SEA 




4o8 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Rico, and took from Spain every foot of land she possessed in 
the New World. During the progress of the war the Hawaiian 
Islands were annexed (July, 1898) to the United States.^ 

At first the Filipinos on some of the islands were discon- 
tented with American rule, and in February, 1899, insurgent 
forces led by Aguinaldo attacked the American army at 
Manila. The uprising, however, was put down, and grad- 
ually the Filipinos grew accustomed to the new order of 
things. 

How were these new acquisitions to be governed? Cuba 
was allowed to become an independent nation, although she 

had to agree that she would 
never impair her independ- 
ence by any treaty that she 
might make with any for- 
eign power. Hawaii was 
given a Territorial govern- 
ment (p. 171) and was made 
a Territory of the United 
States. Porto Rico and the 
Philippine group were placed 
under the control of Con- 
gress, and each was given the 
form of government that 
Street Scene in Manila seemed to be most suitable 

to its needs. The form was changed from time to time, until 
at last both the Porto Ricans and the Filipinos were enjoying 
nearly all the rights and privileges of free and self-governing 
peoples. 

We have treated the possessions that came to us as a 
result of the Spanish- American War in a wise and just man- 
ner, and we ought to be proud that we have done so. For 
to deal fairly with any country or region that is under our 

1 Guam was seized by our navy during the war, and was retained. 
Certain islands of the Samoan group (including Tutuila) were acquired 
by treaty in igoo. 




THE UNITED STATES A WORLD POWER 409 

control is a test of good Americanism. We have always been 
the owner of dependent territory, but we have never op- 
pressed the inhabitants of a country subject to our rule. On 
the contrary, we have always acted as their " big brother " and 
have tried to better their condition. This has been our policy 
in the past, and will continue to be our policy as long as 
America is true to itself. 

An Era of Expansion. The United States was not the only 
nation that at this time was carrying its power to distant 
parts of the earth. For the latter part of the nineteenth 
century was an era of expansion throughout the world. Grea«t 
nations were pushing out into remote regions and taking 
possession of new territory wherever they could get a foot- 
hold. Especially was this true of Great Britain, France, and 
Germany. Great Britain, having already established her rule 
in India, xAustralia, and New Zealand, was rapidly acquiring 
wide stretches of territory in Africa. France was also spread- 
ing her power over immense areas in Africa ; for the great 
" dark continent " was now the richest of prizes for the na- 
tions that were struggling for new possessions. Germany 
likewise was taking part in the wild scramble for territory 
in foreign lands. The Germans began to extend their power 
over new territory in 1866, when Prussia took possession of 
Schleswig-Holstein. Five years later, at the close of the 
Franco-German War, Alsace-Lorraine was torn from France 
and annexed to the German Empire. In 1884 Germany en- 
tered the field of African colonization, and before many years 
had passed there was a German East Africa and a German 
Southwest Africa. Thus at the opening of the twentieth cen- 
tury the most powerful nations in Europe were struggling 
for the possession of new territory in the backward and un- 
developed countries, each nation trying to secure the best 
land that was open to settlement, and as much of it as pos- 
sible. 

Taking a Hand in the Affairs of the Far East. Our pres- 
ence in the Philippines brought us into contact not only with 



410 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

eastern Asia but also with the nations of Europe. For Great 
Britain, Germany, and France were not only taking posses- 
sion of Africa; they were in the far East, extending their 
trade and struggling for the control of new territory. The 
first event that showed us we had new duties in the Orient 
was an outbreak in China known as the Boxer Rebellion. In 
May, 1900, some Chinese fanatics called Boxers began to wage 
war upon foreigners in the city of Peking. They besieged the 
residences of foreign ambassadors, and many Americans and 
Europeans were killed. Soon, however, a strong force of 
soldiers and sailors, furnished by the United States, Japan, 
Great Britain, France, and Russia, appeared upon the scene 
and saved the beseiged foreigners. In this work of relief our 
soldiers took a prominent part. It was possible for them to 
give help promptly, for at the time several thousand Amer- 
ican troops were stationed near by in the Philippines. 

After the Boxer outbreak there was a rumor that the great 
powers of Europe were planning to seize upon certain por- 
tions of Chinese territory and thus secure for themselves 
peculiar advantages in matters of trade. Again our govern- 
ment decided to take a hand in the afifairs of the far East. 
Our Secretary of State. Mr. John Hay, came out in favor 
of the " open door " policy, declaring that all nations should 
have equal commercial privileges at Chinese ports. The 
" open door " policy was agreed to, and the ports of China 
were thrown open to the commerce of every nation. Thus 
in more than one way it was being made plain that the United 
States had become a world power. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. What events led to the war with Spain? Tell the story of this 
war. What were the results of the war? 

2. How were the new acquisitions governed? 

3. Give an account of expansion at this time. 

4. What was the Boxer Rebellion ? What is meant by the " open 
door " policy? 



LV 

THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY 

At the time our country was stepping forward to take its place 
as a power in world affairs, a new century was dawning. When 
the nineteenth century opened, a spirit of progress began to show 
itself among the American people, and during the early years of 
the century important reforms were made in almost every depart- 
ment of the nation's life. In this chapter, therefore, and in the 
next we shall learn of the remarkable progress made by our coun- 
try in the first years of the twentieth century. 

Gold Basis Established. We saw (p. 402) that the Re- 
ptiblicans after their victory in 1896 failed to take up the 
silver qtiestion, the very question that had brought them into 
power. How was the silver question at last solved ? We may 
say that it solved itself. In 1897 additional volumes of money 
began to flow into the United States. The supply of gold was 
greatly increased by the output that came from the newly 
discovered gold-mines of the Klondike region. Then also we 
began to sell extraordinary quantities of foodstuffs to foreign 
countries, and the money spent for this food poured into our 
coffers. The result was that within a very few years we had 
enough money for the transaction of business. Since this 
was about all the Democrats in 1896 desired, their wishes were 
fulfilled without resorting to the free coinage of silver. So 
when the Republicans late in McKinley's administration un- 
dertook to deal with the money question, they found the task 
an easy one. They passed (in 1900) the Gold Standard Act, 
which made gold the standard unit of value, and which failed 
to provide for the coinage of silver other than that which was 
already in stock. Thus, after a strtiggle of more than twenty 

411 



412 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

years, the battle between silver and gold was at last won by the 
yellow metal. 

Reelection of McKinley; His Death. By the time the Gold 
Standard Act was passed another Presidential election was at 
hand. When the campaign of 1900 opened, the period of 
hard times was a thing of the past and the country was in a 
prosperous condition. So the Republicans in 1900 were con- 
fident of success. They renominated McKinley for Presi- 
dent and nominated Theodore Roosevelt for Vice-President. 
The Democrats again nominated William J. Bryan, and de- 
clared against the policy of holding new possessions as de- 
pendencies, asserting that such a policy was contrary to the 
principles of the American government. In the election that 
followed the Republicans were successful. 

In the autumn of 1901 the American people for the third 
time were startled and horrified by the news that their Presi- 
dent had been assassinated. President McKinley, on Septem- 
ber 8. while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buf- 
falo, was shot by an anarchist, and on September 14 he died. 
His death brought sorrow to every home. His private life 
had been pure and blameless, and in the performance of his 
public duties he was honest, kind-hearted, and skilful. 

President Roosevelt. Upon the death of President Mc- 
Kinley the \'ice-President, Theodore Roosevelt, at once as- 
sumed the duties of the Presidency. Roosevelt, although still 
a comparatively young man, — he was only forty-two years 
of age, — was already a well known statesman. He had been 
at the head of the Police Board in New York City, where he 
carried on a bitter warfare against law-breakers ; he had 
served as Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy ; he 
had taken part in the war with Spain (p. 407) ; he had served 
as Governor of New York ; as Vice-President he had presided 
over the United States Senate. So when Roosevelt became 
President in September, 1901, the country knew him as a 
man who had filled many useful offices and who had rendered 
good service in every office he had held. 



THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY 



413 



L/Anthracite Coal Strike. One of the serious questions that 
President Roosevelt had to deal with was a great strike of the 
anthracite coal miners 
in Pennsylvania. The 
strike began in the 
spring of 1902, and 
dragged on through the 
summer and far into the 
fall. The contest be- 
tween the mine-owners 
and their employees was 
stubborn in the extreme. 
The mine-owners hoped 
to tire the miners out. 
But the miners were a 
well organized, powerful 
body, and were led by 
John Mitchell, a " cap- 
tain of labor " who knew 
how to hold his men in 
line. So the deadlock 
continued, and coal be- 
came scarcer and scarcer 

A -f- ^^,V« cmrpH Born at New York, in 1858; assistant Secretary 

and Its price soarea ;°7,,^^ ^avy, 1897-98; fought in the spamsh- 

1-1 J T • 1 „ T^ American War: appointed colonel in 1898; elected 

higher and higher. In O^'^.H'^^^ of New York, .SgS; Vice-Pres.dent, 

1 -^ U ^*. 7qoo- succeeded to the Presidency upon the 

some places it could not ^^^^^ ^^ McKinley; reslected in 1904; died in 

be bought at any price. '919. 

Indeed, it seemed that there was going to be a coal famine that 
would bring disaster to the entire country. In order to pre- 
vent this. President Roosevelt undertook to bring about a set- 
tlement of the strike, and after a good deal of trouble succeeded 
in cretting the strikers and mine-owners to submit their quarrel 
to a commission appointed by the President. The miners went 
back to work and the commission settled the matter in a manner 
satisfactory to both sides. ^'^ 

The Panama Canal. While the President was trying to 




© Brown Brothers 

Theodore Roosevelt 



414 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



settle the coal strike, he was at the same time carrying for- 
ward plans for building a canal across the Isthmus of Pan- 
ama. The people of the United States had for many years 
desired a ship-canal across this isthmus in order to save the 
long voyage around Cape Horn. Some difficulty, however, 




The Panama Canal 

usually stood in the way of building the canal. In Taylor's 
administration we entered into an agreement with England — 
a compact known as the Clayton-Bulwer treaty — not to build 
an isthmian canal over which we should have exclusive control. 
Inasmuch as our government wished to have full control over 
any canal that might be built, this treaty stood in our way 
until 1902, when the Hay-Pauncefote treaty set aside the Clay- 
ton-Bulwer treaty and gave us full power to construct and 
operate a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. But now an- 
other difficulty arose : the United States of Colombia, the 
country to which the Isthmus of Panama belonged, refused 
to ratify the treaty that gave us the right of way across the 



THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY 415 

Isthmus. In 1903, however, Panama, one of the States of the 
United States of Colombia, seceded and set up a government 
of its own, and with this new government we made arrange- 
ments for a right of way across the Isthmus. 

After the right of way was secured the task of building 
the canal was taken up in earnest and carried to completion. 
In 191 5 the canal was opened to the ships of the world. 
\essels that had taken a month to make the voyage around 
South America could now pass through the canal in ten or 
twelve hours. The opening of the canal was celeliratcd in a 
fitting manner by holding in San Francisco an exhibition known 
as the Panama-Pacific Exposition. 

Election of 1904. Mr. Roosevelt received great praise for 
the manner in which he conducted public affairs, and was a 
great favorite with the people. So in 1904 he was nominated 
by the Republicans on the first ballot by a unanimous vote of 
the National Convention. The Democrats nominated Alton 
B. Parker of New York. The Socialists nominated Eugene 
V. Debs of Indiana. Roosevelt was elected by an overwhelm- 
ing majority, his plurality reaching the enormous figure of 
more than 2,500,000. 

Rate Law of 1906; Pure Food Law. While Mr. Roosevelt 
was President, Congress passed several laws that were of 
great benefit to the people. One of these was the Rate Law 
of 1906. This law gave the Interstate Commerce Commisison 
(p. 377) power to fix the rates charged by the railroads. Un- 
der this law, if a shipper (or a passenger) thinks that a cer- 
tain rate charged by a railroad is unjust, he can make a com- 
plaint to the Commission ; and if that board also thinks that 
the rate complained of is unjust or unreasonable, it may do 
away with the old rate and fix a rate that it regards as just 
and reasonable. By passing the Rate Law of 1906 Congress 
strengthened the arm of the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion and thus took another step toward bringing the railroads 
under the control of the national government. 

Another important law passed by Congress at this time 



4i6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

was the Pure Food Act. Manufacturers of drugs and food 
companies had been selHng impure and adulterated articles 
to such an extent that the health of the people was seriously 
threatened. So in 1906 Congress put a stop to the selling of 
impure drugs and foods by imposing a penalty upon any one 
using poisons or injurious substances in articles shipped from 
one State to another. 

Conservation of Natural Resources. President Roosevelt 
was a strong advocate of conserving our natural resources, 
such as our streams, our grazing and mineral lands, and our 
forests, and he did everything he could to prevent them from 
going to waste. While he was President, Congress provided 
(in 1902) that the money received for public lands in certain 
States should be spent for irrigation works. Dams were to 
be built and water stored up for distribution over lands that 
were not blessed with sufficient rainfall. The lands thus 
made fit for tillage by water coming down from the mountains 
to the irrigation works were to be sold to settlers at reason- 
able prices. The work of reclaiming dry lands by means of 
irrigation was pushed forward rapidly, and before many years 
had passed millions of acres of arid land had been supplied 
with water and were being tilled with profit. It has been es- 
timated that the time will come when 20,000,000 people will be 
living on farms saved by irrigation. 

But successful irrigation depends largely upon the preserva- 
tion of the forests. For if the mountains are stripped of their 
trees water will not flow down to the irrigation works in a 
satisfactory manner. So President Roosevelt interested him- 
self in the protection of our national forests. In 1905 we had 
more than 160,000,000 acres of national forest lands, located 
principally in the Rocky Mountain States. In the manage- 
ment of these vast forest possessions there had been great 
waste. Fires had been allowed to rage unchecked ; timber 
had been cut by those who had no right to cut it; cattlemen 
had turned their cattle loose to graze in the forests and had 
paid nothing for the privilege. In 1905, in order to remedy 



THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY 



417 



these evils and conserve the resources of the forests, the 
President caused the Bureau of Forestry to be estabhshed. 
Soon there was a reform in forest management. Thousands 
of government employees were scattered through the forests 
to protect them from fires, and to see that the timber was 
not taken unless it was paid for and that the cattlemen paid 
for the privilege of grazing. Thus it became plain that the 




Irrigating a Young Orchard 

national forests were henceforth to be managed for the pro- 
fit and advantage of the people. 

It was in the interest of conservation that President Roose- 
velt called (in 1908) a conference of the Governors of all 
the States, the first meeting of the kind in our history. At 
this remarkable gathering Governors and other prominent 
men for several days discussed the subject of conservation 
from almost every point of view. The chief result of the 
conference was to cause people everywhere to take greater in- 



4i8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

terest in the natural resources of the country and in their 
conservation. 

Warfare Against the Trusts, One of the reasons why 
President Roosevelt was liked by the people was that he 
waged a legal war against the Trusts. You remember that 
in 1890 the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed to check the 
growth of these industrial giants (p. 393). But their growth 
was not checked. Indeed, as the years passed they grew 
stronger and stronger. President Roosevelt found that the 
Steel Trust was controlling three fourths of the iron and 
steel industry ; that the Sugar Trust was selling nine tenths 
of the sugar; that the Standard Oil Trust was refining three 
fourths of all the oil ; that a Paper Trust was making three 
fourths of all the paper. In fact, he found that "big busi- 
ness " had not been brought under control and that monopoly 
was marching on to victory after victory. 

So the President determined that his law officers should 
move against the Trusts, and move against them in earnest. 
It was his purpose to have the Anti-Trust Law obeyed, even 
if violators of it had to go to jail. He caused suits to be 
brought in the United States courts against the Beef Trust, 
— a combination of meat packers, — the Tobacco Trust, the 
Sugar Trust, and other corporations that he believed were 
violating the Anti-Trust Act. He did not in all cases suc- 
ceed in punishing the Trust against which the suit was brought, 
and some of the cases were not decided while he was Presi- 
dent ; yet it was his desire to bring offenders to justice. " No 
suit," he said, " will be undertaken for the sake of seeming 
to undertake it, and when a suit is undertaken it will not be 
compromised except on the basis that the government wins." 
Such words aroused the anger of the " captains of industry," 
but they pleased the people mightily. 

Election of 1908. President Roosevelt was looked upon 
by the people with such favor that many of his friends thought 
he ought to be a candidate for reelection in 1908. Yet he 
himself did not think so. In 1904, when the news came that 



THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY 419 

he had been elected, he gave out this statement : " On the 
4th of March next I shall have served three and one half 
years, and the three and one half years constitute my first term. 
The wise custom that limits the President to two terms re- 
gards the substance and not the form. Under no circum- 
stance will I be a candidate for or accept another nomina- 
tion." This meant that he intended to follow the example 
set by Washington and JefTerson (p. 193) and refuse another 
term. 

When 1908 came he remained firm in his purpose and re- 
fused to be a candidate. So the Republicans nominated Wil- 
liam H. Taft of Ohio. The Democrats, for the third time, 
nominated Mr. Bryan. The Socialists again nominated Mr. 
Debs. The Republicans declared that the tarifif rates ought 
to be changed, but they failed to say whether the rates ought 
to be raised or lowered. The Democrats came out strongly 
against the Trusts, saying that captains of industry who 
violate the Anti-Trust Act ought to be fined and imprisoned. 
In the campaign Mr. Bryan was opposed in the East by " big 
business," while in the West he had to face the great popular- 
ity of President Roosevelt who entered the contest person- 
ally and fought with all his might for Mr. Taft. The result 
was a sweeping victory for the Republicans. Taft received 
321 electoral votes against 162 for Bryan. Of the popular 
vote Taft received 7,677,788; Bryan, 6,407,982; Debs, 420,890. 
Thus in 1908 people voted to keep the Republicans in power 
four years more, 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. How was the silver question at last settled? 

2. Give an account of the reelection of McKinley and of his death. 

3. Sketch the story of President Roosevelt's political career. 

4. Give an account of the anthracite coal strike. 

5. Tell the story of the Panama Canal. 

6. Who were the Presidential candidates in 1904? What was the re- 
sult of the election? 

7. What are the provisions of the Rate Law of 1906? Of the Pure 
Food Law? 



420 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

8. What was done, while Roosevelt was President, for the conserva- 
tion of natural resources? 

9. Give an account of the warfare against Trusts. 

10. Tell the story of the election of 1908. 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1789, 1812, 1846, 1862, 1865, 1877, 1896, 1898. 

2. Persons : Hamilton, Eli Whitney, John Quincy Adams, Clay, Cal- 
houn, Fillmore, Hayes. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Whisky Insurrection ; the Work of 
Reconstruction; Alaska; the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Presidents: their Election and In- 
auguration ; Discovery and Exploration ; English Colonization ; Com- 
merce. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Read in the class: Roosevelt's Inaugural Address: Lane 
and Hill, 175-177. 

(2) Theodore Roosevelt on Conservation : A United People, 

51-53- 

(3) Cutting a Hemisphere in Two: A United People, 107-114. 

(4) The Panama Canal: A United People, 1 15-124. 

(5) Corporations and Trusts: Ogg, 58-75. 

(6) Conservation and Reclamation: Ogg, 96-115. 



LVI 

THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY {Continued) 

Twentieth Century Progress in Science and Industry. 

— When Mr. Taft took his place at the head of the govern- 
ment in March, 1909. the nation was hounding along the road 
of prosperity at a marvelous speed. How fast we were going 
is shown in the table below : 

PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES BETWEEN 

1900 AND 1912 

1900 1912 

Population 75,944.575 96,410,503 

Wealth $88,000,000,000 $125,000,000,000 

Money in circulation 2,055,150,000 3,276,786,000 

Deposits in savings banks 2,458,000,000 5,825,000,000 

Value of farms and farm property. . 20,400,000,000 40,000,000,000 

Value of farm products 4,000,000,000 8,000,000,000 

Value of manufactured products... 8,000,000,000 20,000,000,000 

Value of exports 1,394,000,000 2,204,000,000 

Value of imports 849,900,000 1,653,000,000 

Production of petroleum (gallons) 2,672,000,000 9,258,000,000 

Production of pig-iron (tons) 13,789,000 23,649,000 

Production of steel (tons) 10,188,000 23,676,000 

Wheat (bushels) 522,000,000 621,000,000 

Corn (bushels) 2,105,000,000 2,531,000,000 

Cotton (bales) 10,245,000 16,109,000 

Railways operated (miles) 194,000 246,000 

Salaries of public-school teachers. .$ 137,687,000 $ 253,915,000 

Immigrants arrived 448,512 838,173 

Urban population 31,000,000 42,000,000 

Scan this table attentively and mark how our country was 
advancing in wealth and population and observe the progress 
made in so many directions. Observe how in a few years 
the farmers doubled the value both of their farms and of 

421 



422 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the things raised on the farm. Notice, too, that the manu- 
facturers more than doubled the value of their output. 

Much of the progress was due to new inventions, for never 
before were inventors busier than they were in the opening 
years of the twentieth century. In a single year our Patent 
Office at Washington issued 35,000 patents. Hundreds of 
these were issued to protect the inventors of new electrical 
contrivances ; for electricity at this time was making wonder- 
ful strides. It was being brought into use on a large scale 
as a motive power in almost every branch of industry. To 
supply the electrical current the forces of nature were har- 
nessed and put to work; the power generated by the fall of 
water was transmitted to wires in the form of electricity and 
carried to distant points. At Niagara a power equal to that of 
250,000 horses was generated and distributed to surround- 
ing cities and towns. Even the great Father of Waters was 
brought under control and compelled to render useful service. 
For at Keokuk, Iowa, a dam was thrown across the Mis- 
sissippi and an electric power plant installed capable of gen- 
erating a current that could be used in places as far away 
as St. Louis. In the far Northwest electric power for draw- 
ing trains was obtained from mountain waterfalls along the 
route, and on one great railroad steam locomotives were done 
away. with entirely for a distance of two hundred miles. 




The Santa Maria, The Mayflower, 
93 feet long. 70 feet long. 



The Lusitania, 
790 feet long. 



The Savannah, 
100 feet long. 



An Ocean Steamship of To-day as Compared with Early Ships 

But the most remarkable achievements of this period were 
in the field of transportation. Here there was progress on 
sea, on land, and in the air. Ocean liners were built larger 
and larger, until they reached a length of more than 900 feet 
and carried burdens weighing in some cases as much as 50,000 





Modern Transportation 



424 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



tons. This was the time, too, when the automobile was com- 
ing- to the front. At first Americans took but httle interest 
in this new form of locomotive, but about 1900 we began 
to use automobiles in considerable numbers and by 1913 we 





Aeroplane of the Wright Brothers 

were making a quarter of a million of them every year. With 
the automobile came the movement for better roads. In the 
work of road improvement the national government lent a 
helping hand, for the Department of Agriculture sent out men 
to give instruction in the art of road building wherever and 
whenever such instruction was desired. 

The most startling development in transportation was the 
invention of the flying-machine. In 1896 Professor Langley 
of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington invented a flying- 
machine driven by a small steam-engine, and with this strange 
machine he made a flight of about three fourths of a mile 



THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY 



425 



over the Potomac River. Nine years later an airplane con- 
structed by Orville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton, Ohio, 
made a successful flight of twenty-four miles. Victories over 




© Underwood & Underwood 

William Howard Taft 

Born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857; graduated at Yale; 
admitted to the bar; United States circuit judge, 
1892-1900; president United States Philippine Com- 
mission, 1900-04; first civil governor of the Philip- 
pines, 1901-04; Secretary of War, 1904-08; elected 
President in 1908. 

the air now followed each other in quick succession, and did 
not cease until the conquest was complete. 

While the conquest of the air was being made, men at the 
same time were conquering space. In 1901 William Marconi 
sent a signal across the Atlantic Ocean without cable or wire 



426 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

of any kind, and the history of wireless telegraphy began. 
Soon the entire globe was encircled with a series of wireless 
stations, and steamships and airplanes were provided with 
wireless apparatus. By 191 3, when a message was flashed 
from Washington to Paris, the whole earth had become a huge 
whispering gallery. 

Payne Tariff Law. Progress in commerce and industry 
was matched by progress in matters of government. The pro- 
gressive policy favored by President Roosevelt continued to 
be popular throughout the administration of President Taft. 
During the campaign of 1908 Mr. Taft promised that if 
elected, he would immediately after his inauguration call an 
extra session of Congress to consider the subject of tariff 
revision. In fulfilment of his promise he called the law- 
makers together in extra session in March, 1909. They at 
once took up the tariff question, and after several months of 
debate passed the Payne Tariff Law. This law, like the 
Dingley Law (p. 402), continued the policy of protecting 
American industries. It reduced slightly some of the rates 
of the Dingley law, but the rates upon the better kinds of 
cotton goods were raised. The Payne law pleased the manu- 
facturers of the East, but it was a great disappointment to 
many Western people, who had hoped the tariff would be re- 
vised downward and not upward. 

Rate Law of 1910. While Mr. Taft was President another 
important step was taken to bring the railroads more com- 
pletely under the control of the government. We learned 
(p. 415) that in 1906 Congress gave the Interstate Commerce 
Commission power, upon the complaint of the shipper, to do 
away with a rate charged by a railroad and to fix a new 
rate. In 1910 Congress went a step further — it was a very 
long step indeed — and gave the Commission power to make 
investigations of its own, and, when it finds certain rates un- 
just, to change them, even though shippers have made no 
complaint. Moreover, by the law of 1910 new rates may be 
suspended in their operation by the order of the Commission, 



428 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

and if upon investigation the new rates are found by the 
Commission to be unjust and unreasonable, they can not go 
into effect at all. Thus the Commission is given almost com- 
plete power over rate-making ; it can change any existing rate 
and it can prevent the charging of a new rate. The railroads, 
however, may appeal to the courts of the United States, where 
the decision of the Commission may be overruled. 

Postal Saving's Bank; Parcel Post. During the Taft ad- 
ministration Congress authorized (1910) the Post-Office De- 
partment to establish a system of Postal Savings Banks. These 
banks are located in the thousands of post-offices scattered 
over the country. Any person of the age of ten or over may 
deposit in a postal bank any sum not less than one dollar nor 
more than five hundred dollars, and receive two per cent in- 
terest on the amount deposited. The purpose of the postal 
savings banks is to encourage habits of thrift among people 
of small means and to provide for them a place where their 
savings may be safely kept. 

In 1912 Congress also authorized the Post-Office Depart- 
ment to establish a Parcel Post system, whereby packages of 
considerable weight could be sent through the mails at little 
cost, the rate to be fixed according to the weight of the pack- 
age and the distance it was to be carried. The parcel post 
proved to be very popular, and within a few years after it 
was established there were carried every year in the mails 
more than 1,000,000,000 packages. 

The Fight Against the Trusts Continues, The fight against 
the Trusts begun by President Roosevelt (p. 419) was con- 
tinued by President Taft. In 1906 the government began in 
the lower national courts a suit against the Standard Oil 
Company on the ground that it was violating the Anti-Trust 
Law. After five years of legal warfare the case at last 
reached the Supreme Court of the United States. This great 
tribunal decided that the Standard Oil Company must be 
dissolved ; that is, that the several companies that had united 
to form the Standard Oil Company (p. 384) must separate 



THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY 429 

and that each company must transact business as an inde- 
pendent concern. A Httle later the Supreme Court handed 
down a similar decision in the case of the American Tobacco 
Company, and that great Trust was dissolved. These de- 
cisions were looked upon as being victories over the Trusts, 
but in reality they did very little to check monopoly or to 
restore competition. For in many cases the separate com- 
pany that was torn away from the combination and compelled 
to act independently was itself a giant. Moreover, in the case 
of the Standard Oil Company the men who owned the com- 
bination were the very men who controlled the independent 
companies. So, after all, these victories over the Trusts did 
not amount to much; "big business" continued to flourish as 
it had been flourishing for thirty years. 

Last Events of the Westward Movement. It was in the 
early years of the twentieth century that the great drama of 
the westward movement came to an end. In 1907 the ad- 
mission of Oklahoma (p. 391) as a State was proclaimed by 
President Roosevelt. \Mien Oklahoma entered the Union it 
was already a rich and powerful community with a population 
of nearly 1,500,000. Western development had now extended 
to New Mexico and Arizona (p. 259), and by 1912 these 
Territories were ready for Statehood and were admitted. 
With the admission of New Mexico and Arizona our great 
sisterhood of forty-eight States was rounded out. 

Presidential Election of 1912. When the time came (in 
1912) for nominating a candidate for the Republican party, 
President Taft, ex-President Roosevelt, and Senator Robert 
La Follette of Wisconsin entered upon a campaign to secure 
the nomination. Taft was nominated at Chicago (Jvme 22), 
but Roosevelt asserted that the nomination had been dishon- 
estly secured. Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey was nom- 
inated (July 2) by the Democrats at Baltimore. On August 7 
a new party, known as the Progressive party, met at Chicago 
and nominated Roosevelt as its candidate. On May 17 Mr. 
Debs was again nominated by the Socialist party. 



430 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

The Democrats in their platform declared against a protec- 
tive tariff, claiming that tariff duties ought to be imposed with 
the view of raising revenue, not with the view of protecting 
manufacturers. The Republicans, as always, declared for 
the protective system, but promised to reduce any duties that 
might be too high. The Progressives demanded " immediate 
downward revision of those schedules where duties are shown 
to be unjust or excessive." The Socialists declared that the 
government ought to own and operate the railroads, the 
Trusts, the banks, and the mines ; that children under sixteen 
years of age ought not to be employed in industries ; that the 
Constitution of the United States ought to be revised ; and 
that women ought to be allowed to vote on equal terms with 
men. 

The campaign of 19 12 was an exciting one, but there was 
little doubt as to what the outcome of the election would be. 
For when Mr. Roosevelt entered the field as a candidate every 
one believed that he would draw enough votes from the Re- 
publican party to defeat its candidate. And that is what hap- 
pened: Mr. Taft was defeated. Of the 531 electoral votes 
Wilson received 435, Roosevelt 88, and Taft 8. The popular 
vote was 6.,293,oi9 for Wilson, 4,119,507 for Roosevelt, 3,- 
484,956 for Taft, and 901,873 for Debs. Thus the Repub- 
lican party went down in defeat, and the Democrats, af-ter 
having been out of office for sixteen years, returned to power. 
Mr. Wilson was inaugurated in March, 1913. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. State some of the main facts concerning our progress between 
1900 and 1912, basing your statements on the table found on page 421. 

2. What were some of the important achievements at this time in 
electricity? In transportation? 

3. Give an account of the Payne Tariff. 

4. Describe fully the Rate Law of 1910. 

5. Give an account of Postal Savings Banks and of the Parcel Post. 

6. Describe the warfare against the Trusts. 

7. What were the last events in the westward movement? 

8. Give a full account of the Presidential election of 1912. 



LVII 

SOCIAL BETTERMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM 

In the last two chapters an account was given of the progress 
made in national affairs in the early years of the twentieth century. 
During these years great progress was also made in social and 
political matters that were not always closely connected with na- 
tional affairs but which were of the greatest importance in the 
life of the American people. In this chapter, therefore, we shall 
have an account of the remarkable social and political progress 
made by our people in the early years of the twentieth century. 

Progress in Education. We learned that in the Eighties a 
public-school system was in operation in every State (p. 368) 
and that educational matters were in a flourishing condition. 
The cause of popular education grew stronger year by year; 
more school-houses were built, more teachers were employed, 
and more pupils were enrolled. When the twentieth century 
dawned we had one of the finest educational systems in the 
w^orld. In 1900 there was in our public schools a mighty 
army of 15,000,000 pupils; twenty years later the number had 
jumped to 20,000,000. And our schools were all the time 
improving ; better school-houses were built and better teachers 
were employed. Teachers were trying to make the schools 
more practical and useful. In the past the chief aim of the 
teacher had been to train the pupil's mind, but now the schools 
began to train the hand as well as the mind. In many cities 
vocational schools were established, and boys and girls were 
fitted for some form of useful manual labor, either in the 
home or on the farm or in the shop. Thus the schools be- 
gan to send out armies of useful workers trained for the in- 
dustrial warfare in which the progressive nations of the world 
were engaged. 

431 



432 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Besides training the mind and the hand, schools also un- 
dertook the training of the body. It was seen that if our 
men and women are to be physically fit they must be made 
physically fit in childhood. Accordingly, in many schools 
physical training was introduced, several hours a week being 
given to athletics. In several States, as in New York, New 




r!a>^ 111 tlu' W d.-.li.M,-,t' Mi Irving High School 



Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maryland, physical education was 
made compulsory, and it seemed that public opinion would in 
time demand that physical education be required in all Ameri- 
can schools. 

It was not only in the school-room that popular education 
was flourishing, for knowledge was now being spread broad- 
cast over the land, and millions of grown people were re- 
ceiving the benefits of new agencies of instruction. In cities 
free lecture courses were instituted, and large audiences lis- 
tened to lectures on literature, politics, history, and science. 
In the country the rural free delivery service brought the daily 



SOCIAL BETTERMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM 433 

newspaper to millions of farmers and country folk who in 
former years did not enjoy the educational benefits that come 
with the reading of a newspaper every day. The magazine 
as well as the newspaper was doing its part in the education 
of the masses ; for during these years popular magazines were 
increasing in number and their circulation was counted by the 




Children's Room in a Carnegie Library 

millions. Then the university extension, the Chautauqua 
circle, and the correspondence school reached hundreds of 
thousands of grown people and started them on the road of 
the higher education. 

But the most useful educational agency outside of the school 
was the public library. At the opening of the nineteenth 
century free public libraries were few indeed ; but a hundred 
years later almost every city and town had a collection of 
books that could be used by readers without cost. Andrew 
Carnegie gave a large portion of his immense fortune (p. 386) 
to the establishment of free public libraries, and by 1920 there 
were nearly three thousand Carnegie libraries furnishing read- 
ing matter to millions who could not afiford to buy books. 



434 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

In some States traveling libraries, provided at public expense, 
were sent from community to community. 

The Rule of the People. Progress in education led to prog- 
ress in matters of government. For when the young citizens 
who had studied American history and civil government in 
the schools grew to manhood they knew it was their right and 
their duty to take part in public aflfairs. The result was that 
the people became more completely the masters of their gov- 
ernment. Their control over government was gained in many 
States by the use of the political device known as the Initiative 
and Referendum. This device gives voters the power to par- 
ticipate personally in the making of laws ; it enables them to 
secure a law that they want, and to vote down a law that 
they do not want. In 1898 the Initiative and Referendum 
was adopted in South Dakota, and by 19 16 it had been brought 
into use in Maine, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North 
Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, New 
Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Okla- 
homa, and California. 

In several of the States that adopted the Initiative and 
Referendum another device, known as the Recall, was also 
adopted. The Recall gives the people complete control over 
the officers w-hom they have elected ; for where this device is 
brought into use an officer by a popular vote may be deprived 
of (recalled from) his office at any time. Among the States 
that adopted the recall were Michigan, Kansas, Louisiana, 
Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and Cali- 
fornia. In some of these States, however, the Recall did not 
apply to judges. 

Another reform that strengthened the rule of the people 
was the adoption of a system of nominating party candidates 
by a direct vote. For nearly a hundred years candidates 
had been nominated by a Convention system ; that is, the voters 
of the party elected delegates to a Convention and this Con- 
vention nominated the candidates. But in the early years 
of the twentieth century the people began to nominate candi- 



SOCIAL BETTERMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM 435 




dates by direct vote; and soon, in most of the States, the Con- 
vention system was done away with and a system of direct 
nomination was accepted. 

Still another reform that helped to bring government un- 
der the direct control of the people 
was a change in the method of 
electing United States Senators. 
From the time the Constitution was 
adopted until the year 1912, Sen- 
ators were elected by the State leg- 
islatures (p. 157). But by the open- 
ing of the twentieth, century it was 
found that this plan did not work 
well. So in 19 12 the Seventeenth 
Amendment to the Constitution was 
adopted. This amendment took the 
election of Senators away from the 
legislatures and gave the voters of 
the State the right to elect them. 

But the most important political reform of the period was 
the one that gave women the right to vote. Women in great 
numbers were going out into the industrial and professional 
world and were earning their living side by side with men, 
and they felt that they ought to be allowed to vote on equal 
terms with men. So they began to demand for themselves 
the right of sufifrage. Their claims were listened to and in 
many States the doors of the polling-booth were thrown open 
to women. Four States — Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and 
Idaho — granted the suffrage to women in the latter years 
of the nineteenth century. In the early years of the twen- 
tieth century, California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and 
Kansas were added to the list of States that had granted the 
suffrage to women on equal terms with men ; and by 1918 Mon- 
tana, Nevada, Michigan, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Da- 
kota, Texas, and New York had also taken their places among 
the equal suffrage States. 



Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt. 
A leader in the Woman's 
Suffrage Movement. 



436 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



y Better Laws for the People. While the people were mak- 
ing themselves the masters of their government, they were at 

the same time de- 
manding better laws 
for themselves. 
They especially de- 
manded laws that 
would improve the 
conditions of work- 
men and their fam- 
ilies. Since laws of 
this kind must in 
most cases come 
from the State (p. 
151), it was to the 
governments of the 
different States that 
the workingmen ap- 
pealed for justice. 
They seldom ap- 
pealed in vain, for 
in almost every State 
something was done to protect the interests of the workingmen. 
In many States Employer's Liability Laws were passed. 
These laws provided that workmen who were injured while at 
work should receive a certain compensation while suffering 
from their injuries. 

For example, in several of the States it was provided that 
when a workman meets with an accident the employer must 
supply necessary first aid, including medical, surgical, and 
hospital services, and that for a certain length of time the 
workman must be paid half of his earnings. When the em- 
ployee meets with an accident that results in his death, his 
heirs must be paid a sum of several thousand dollars. 

In addition to the Employer's Liability Laws there was also 
enacted in some of the States, for the benefit of workmen, a 




Miss Janette Rankin. The First Woman 
Elected to Congress 



SOCIAL BETTERMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM 437 

Minimum Wage Law. This law fixes the lowest wage that 
it is lawful for an employer to give. When fixing the min- 
imum wage the legislature aims to give the workingmen suffi- 
cient pay to enable him to live in a decent and comfortable 
manner. 

But the best laws enacted during these years were those 
forbidding the employment of children too young to work. 
For during the period that we are now studying a vigorous 
warfare against child labor was waged in almost every State, 
with the result that few States failed to pass laws making it 
unlawful for children under fourteen to be employed in fac- 
tories. "^ 

Better Government for Cities. Another reform movement 
of this period related to the government of cities. We saw 
that long before the end of the nineteenth century we had 
ceased to be a nation of farmers and that a large proportion 
of our people were living in cities (p. 370). This proportion 
grew larger and larger, and at the opening of the twentieth 
century more than one third of the entire population had 
gathered in cities and towns. By 1910 we had about 100 
cities that contained more than 50,000 inhabitants each and 
about 30 that contained more than 200,000 each. 

But, while our cities were growing at a rapid rate, many of 
them were being governed in a very bad manner. In fact, 
there was so much dishonesty and bad management in city 
affairs that in many places it was thought best to change the 
old form of the city government and establish a new form 
known as the Commission plan. Under this plan great power 
was given to a small group of men — usually five commis- 
sioners or councilmen — elected by the whole body of voters 
within the city, without regard to the interests of any political 
party. The commission plan worked so well that it grew 
rapidly in favor, and in the course of a few years it was 
adopted by more than 400 cities. In a number of places the 
city manager plan was adopted. Under this plan the com- 
mission (or council) appoints an officer known as the city 



438 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



manager, who is charged with the entire responsibihty of man- 
aging the affairs of the city; the commission (or council) 
makes the laws for the city and the city manager carries the 
laws into effect. 

Social Betterment. Not only by means of laws and through 
the action of government were social reforms undertaken. 
Thousands of earnest workers in a private way took up the 
work of social betterment with a view to making the world 
a better place in which to live. Lovers of peace joined in a 
movement which they hoped would lead to permanent peace 
among all the nations of the earth. The peace movement was 
greatly assisted by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who gave $io,- 
000,000 to an institution whose members were to work in the 




A Social Service Worker Instructing Children 

cause of peace and try to persuade nations to settle their dis- 
putes without going to war. 

In the movement for social betterment the poor and un- 
fortunate were not forgotten. In almost every city there was 
organized a charity society, which extended help to the poor 



SOCIAL BETTERMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM 439 

and at the same time encouraged them to hel[) themselves. 
Nor were the sick and disabled forgotten. For in the open- 
ing years of the twentieth century rich men began to give 
their money for building and maintaining hospitals, Mr. John 



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X'-:-::^M'l ■ "J 



A Community Center 

D. Rockefeller alone contributing more than $10,000,000 for 
this purpose. Soon these homes for the sick were numbered 
by the thousands and in almost every community the sick 
could be cared for in a hospital at a reasonable rate. In the 
city of New York alone there were in 19 13 more than 100 
hospitals. In many places the work of the hospital was 
greatly extended by visiting nurses, who went among the poor 
and gave practical instruction in the art of nursing. The Red 
Cross Society also increased its membership and joined in ad- 
ministering to the needs of those who suffered in war or dis- 
ease or as a result of fire or the forces of nature. 

In the work of social betterment the boys of the country 
lent a helping hand. All over the country the Boy Scout 
movement gained strength, and hundreds of thousands of 
manly boys took upon themselves the obligations imposed by 
the Scouts' vow : " On my honor, I will do my best to do 



440 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

my duty to God and my country, and to obey the scout law ; 
to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically 
strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." 

The Community Center. Earnest efforts were made not 
only to improve the government of cities, but to elevate and 
enrich the social life of the city. Community centers were 
established for the purpose of bringing the residents of a city 
close together and making them better neighbors. This was 
a worthy and noble purpose, for in the modern city people 
often are not as good neighbors as they ought to be. Too 
often in a large city the neighborhood spirit is entirely lack- 
ing, and many a person passes his life in the midst of stran- 
gers, not knowing even the names of those who live next door. 
So in hundreds of cities the people were encouraged to meet 
in a neighborly way at the community center. In most cases 
the meeting place was the school-house. Here the neighbors 
— grown people as well as children' — met and discussed 
public affairs, voted upon questions of interest to the neigh- 
borhood, heard lectures, listened to good music, danced, played, 
and engaged in other activities. In a few cities school-houses 
were constructed according to plans that especially fitted them 
for use as centers of recreation and social improvement. For 
example, in one city there was built a high school which, be- 
sides providing for the needs of teaching, had a large audi- 
torium, a gymnasium, a swimming-pool, and a bowling-alley. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give a full account of the progress that was made in educational 
matters in the early years of the twentieth century. 

2. Give the history of the following political reforms : the initiative 
and referendum; the recall; direct nominations; election of United 
States Senators ; woman suffrage. 

3. What important laws were enacted for improving the conditions 
of workingmen? 

4. Give an account of the growth of our city population at this 
time. What reforms were made in city government at the time? 

5. What were some of the things done in a private way for social 
betterment .'' 

6. For what purpose were community centers established? 



SOCIAL BETTERMENT AND POLITICAL REFORM 441 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1620, 1803, 1825, 1861, 1877, 1896, 1898, 1904. 

2. Persons : Magellan, Franklin, Fulton, McCormick, Blaine, Harri- 
son, Carnegie. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Patroons ; the Ordinance of 1787 ; 
the Louisiana Purchase. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: Education; Government; Great In- 
ventions. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) Civic Improvement: A United People, 160-178. 

(2) Peace versus War: A ITnited People, 179-187. 

(3) Democracy and Responsibility in Government : Ogg, 147- 
166. 

(4) The Women of To-Day : Bruce, 224-253. 



LVIII 

IMPORTANT LAWS; INTERNATIONAL TROUBLES 

When Mr. Wilson took his place at the head of the government 
the principal reforms described in the last chapter had been ac- 
complished, and many of the movements for social betterment had 
gained considerable headway. In harmony with the spirit of the 
times, the new President proved to be a champion of progressive 
measures, and during his administration an unusual number of use- 
ful laws were passed by Congress. But Congress and the Presi- 
dent were not allowed to give all their time to home affairs, for 
they were called upon to face serious international troubles. 

Underwood Tariff; Income-Tax Law. When President 
Wilson delivered his Inaugural Address — March, 1913 — he 
told his hearers that three things ought to be done as speedily 
as possible. First, the tariff ought to be revised ; second, 
the banking and currency system ought to be reorganized and 
reformed ; third, the Trusts ought to be brought under a con- 
trol so strict that they would no longer be able to stifle com- 
petition. 

In order that the tariff question might be taken up at once, 
President Wilson on April 7 assembled Congress in extra 
session. On the following day he read his message in per- 
son to the two Houses of Congress assembled in joint session. 
He told Congress that the existing tariff was doing harm to 
American industry, and advised the law-makers to lower the 
rates. Congress, responding to his wishes, passed the Under- 
wood Tariff. This law reduced the rates on nearly a thou- 
sand articles, the duties on woolen goods being placed far 
below what they were under the Payne tariff (p. 426). Raw 
wool was allowed to come in free of duty, and sugar also was 
put on the free list. 

442 



IMPORTANT LAWS; INTERNATIONAL TROUBLES 443 

The rates of the Underwood law were fixed so low that 
the law-makers did not expect that the new tariff would raise 
revenue sufficient to meet the expenses of the Government. 
So Congress, in order to secure additional revenue, made use 
of the power granted by the Sixteenth Amendment (p. 490 
and imposed a national income tax. A tax of i per cent, was 
imposed upon the income of every citizen of the United States. 
In computing the tax, however, a deduction of $3000 was 
made in the case of a single person and a deduction of $4000 
in the case of a married person. The law also placed an ad- 
ditional tax upon incomes of $20,000 or more, increasing the 
rate of taxation as the income increased. Thus, after many 
years of agitation, an inco me tax, one of the fairest and mo st 
just of all taxes, be- 
gan to be collected 
from people who 
could well afford to 
help in the support of 
the national govern- 
ment. 

Federal Reserve 
Act. President \Yil- 
son was as anxious 
to reform the cur- 
rency system as he 
was to reform the 
tariff. There were 
good reasons why the 
system should be re- 
formed. The money 
of the country was 
flowing in great 
streams into a few 

centers like New 

York, Philadeli^hia, Woodrow Wilson 

and Chicago, with the result that a few bankers were gettmg 




444 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

possession of a large portion of the currency and were charg- 
ing interest rates that were too high. Moreover, there was 
no method of regulating the supply of money in a manner to 
meet the needs of business. So in June, 1913, the President 
asked Congress for a law that would have the effect of dis- 
tributing the currency more evenly over the country, and that 
would also provide a method by which the supply of money 
could be regulated. In response Congress passed the Federal 
Reserve Act. 

The Federal Reserve Act created a Federal Reserve Board 
— consisting of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Comptroller 
of the Currency, and of five members appointed by the Presi- 
dent — and provided that the United States be marked off 
geographically into twelve districts, and a Federal Reserve 
Bank be established in one of the cities in each district. 
The cities in which Federal Reserve Banks were established 
are Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, Atlanta, 
Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, 
(Mo.), Dallas, and San Francisco. Under the workings of 
the new law large sums of money that formerly found their 
way to New York and Chicago ceased to flow to these cen- 
ters ; for a certain portion of the currency in each federal re- 
serve district was no longer allowed to pass outside the borders 
of that district. That is to say, each of the federal reserve dis- 
tricts was made a money-tight compartment from which a cer- 
tain amount of currency was not allowed to flow. The new 
law also provided that the Federal Reserve Banks might from 
time to time make such additions to the currency as business 
conditions might require ; but such additional currency could 
not be issued without the approval of the Federal Reserve 
Board. 

Clayton Trust Law; Federal Trade Commission. A few 
weeks after the new currency law was passed. President Wil- 
son appeared before Congress and asked for a law that would 
enable the government to deal with the Trusts in an effective 
manner. For, as we have already learned (p. 429), the Sher- 



IMPORTANT LAWS; INTERNATIONAL TROUBLES 445 

man Anti-Trust Law had failed to check the Trusts in their 
onward march toward monopoly. Congress responded to the 
President's request by passing (in 1914) the Clayton Trust 
Law. The purpose of this law is to strengthen the Sherman 
law. The Clayton law aims to check monopoly by compelling 
business concerns to compete fairly with one another. It pre- 
vents any company from making different prices to the pur- 
chasers of its goods whenever such discrimination lessens 
competition or tends to create a monopoly. It forbids the 
interlocking of business concerns ; directors in certain classes 
of corporations are not allowed to serve as directors in cor- 
porations engaged in the same kind of business. It declares 
unfair methods of competition to be unlawful. 

In order that there might be officers to carry the Clayton 
law into effect, Congress created the Federal Trade Com- 
mission, a body composed of five members appointed by the 
President. When the Commission finds that a person or a 
corporation is using unfair methods of competition, it may 
order the offender to desist ; and, if the order is not obeyed, 
the offender is liable to be brought into a court, and if the 
court finds him to be guilty of unfair practices he must de- 
sist from such practices or he will be punished. 

Trouble with Mexico. While Congress was engaged in 
making these important laws, our government was all the 
time wrestling with serious international problems. First 
there was the Mexican problem. Trouble between Mexico 
and the L^nited States began even before President Wilson 
was inaugurated. In February, 1913, Francisco Madero, the 
President of Mexico, having been killed in a secret and brutal 
manner. General Victoriana Huerta was proclaimed President 
of the Mexican Republic. Ought Huerta to be recognized by 
our government? This c|uestion President Taft declined to 
answer, preferring to leave the matter to his successor. Presi- 
dent Wilson decided that Huerta was not the rightful Presi- 
dent of Mexico, and refused to recognize him as such, de- 
claring that the man was not worthy of respect. 



446 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

A great many people in Mexico also refused to accept 
Huerta as President and rose in revolt against his authority. 
The leaders of the revolution were Venustiano Carranza and 
Francisco Villa. There was a great deal of fighting, and very 
soon the United States became seriously involved in the 
Mexican difficulty. American citizens living in Mexico were 
killed and their property destroyed. In the spring of 1014 
several sailors belonging to our navy were arrested by the 
followers of Huerta at Tampico and were roughly treated. 
Demands for reparation were made, and, since these were 
not fully complied with. President Wilson sent our fleet 
against Vera Cruz and the city was quickly captured. It was 
held until November, 1914, when our troops sailed away. In 
the meanwhile President Wilson was pursuing what he called 
a policy of " watchful waiting." He kept a watchful eye 
upon American interests in Mexico and waited patiently for 
the revolution to run its course. In the summer of 1915 
Huerta was overthrown and Carranza seized the reins of 
government. 

But this did not end the trouble; for in March, 1916, Mlla, 
who had been one of Carranza's generals, but had turned 
against his chief, led a band of outlaws across the Mexican 
border into New Mexico and killed nine American citizens. 
American troops were now quickly sent into Mexico to cap- 
ture Villa and his band and punish them for their deeds. But 
Villa escaped and the American troops in Mexico accom- 
plished little. Although Carranza could not wholly put down 
lawlessness, he nevertheless gradually acquired strength as 
a ruler, and his government gradually found favor in the eyes 
of President Wilson. In the autumn of 191 7 Carranza was 
formally recognized by the United States as the rightful 
President of the Mexican Republic. 

Trouble with Germany. But it was not our next-door 
neighbor at the South that gave us the most anxiety. Our 
greatest trouble came from across the sea. In August, 1914, 
Germany, in violation of a treaty, marched her troops into 



IMPORTANT LAWS; INTERNATIONAL TROUBLES 447 

Belgium and began a war that set the world on fire. Soon 
Germany, Austria, and Turkey were fighting against Belgium, 
Great Britain, France, Italy, Serbia, and Russia. Great 
Britain with her powerful navy soon drove all the surface 
fighting-ships of Germany from the waters. But the Ger- 
mans could still use their submarines, and did use them in 
the most cruel and merciless manner. In May, 191 5, a Ger- 
man submarine attacked the Lusitania, a British merchantman, 
and, without warning, sent the great liner to the bottom of 
the sea, and nearly twelve hundred innocent persons were 
drowned. Of those who lost their lives more than one hun- 
dred were American citizens. 

The sinking of the Lusitania was one of the most cruel acts 
ever committed by a civilized nation, and it caused every 
mercy-loving heart in the world to thrill with horror. And 
it was a lawless act. For, according to the rules of inter- 
national law, Germany had no right to sink a merchant-ship 
without first giving warning and providing for the safety of 
persons on board. The sinking of the Lusitania, therefore, 
was a violation of American rights. So our government was 
bound to call Germany to account for her conduct. 

President Wilson informed the German government that if 
German submarines should sink any more merchant-ships with- 
out warning and thereby take the lives of more Americans, the 
government of the United States would hold the German gov- 
ernment responsible for the injuries done to American citizens. 
The President did not want war, and the country at this time 
doubtless did not want it ; but Americans demanded that their 
rights be upheld. For a time Germany paid little attention 
to the words of the President or to the desires of the Amer- 
ican people ; for her submarines continued to sink merchant- 
vessels without warning, with the result that more American 
lives were lost. 

After trying for nearly a year to secure from Germany 
a. promise that she would respect American rights, but trying 
in vain, President Wilson at last (April, 1916) told the Ger- 



448 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



man government that it must order the commanders of its 
submarines to sink no merchantmen without first providing 
for the safety of the persons on board, and said flatly that 
if Germany failed to do this the government of the United 
States would have nothing more to do Avith the German gov- 
ernment. Germany now yielded and promised to conduct her 
submarine warfare in the manner demanded by the President. 
When she made this promise, however, she at the same time 
made a statement to the effect that if any of the nations with 
which she was at war should disobey the rules of international 
law she would then be facing a new situation and would feel 
free to act in accordance with her own judgment. President 
Wilson accepted Germany's promise, but he made it clear 




Road Building 

that whatever another nation might do in the future would 
not affect in the slightest degree the action of the American 
government : if Germany should again violate American rights 
she would be held responsible for her conduct, no matter 
what another nation might do. With this acceptance of Ger- 



IMPORTANT LAWS; INTERNATIONAL TROUBLES 449 

many's promise, our country, which for nearly a year had 
been in a state of great excitement, began to grow more 
quiet ; for it seemed to most of our people that the President 
had upheld our rights and at the same time kept us out of 
war. 

Important Laws. While the war in Europe was raging, 
our thoughts were chiefly directed to foreign affairs. Never- 
theless we did not neglect wholly our home affairs. Indeed, 
during the Great War some very important laws were passed. 
Among these was the Federal Aid Road Act. This measure 
gave the helping hand of the national government to the good 
roads movement which was carried forward so rapidly after 
the appearance of the automobile (p. 424). The law provided 
that $75,000,000 should be spent by the government for the 
improvement of the highways of the country. The money was 
to be divided among the States on the threefold basis of area, 
population, and mileage of rural delivery routes. 

Farmers in all parts of the country were thankfvd for the 
Rural Credits Law. Under the provision of this law there 
was established a system of Farm Loan Banks, at which 
farmers might borrow money needed for certain purposes 
connected with the occupation of farming. At these new 
banks the farmers could borrow money at a low rate of in- 
terest and pay off their debt, both principal and interest, in 
fixed small sums. 

The trading world was greatly interested in the law that 
created a Shipping Board, composed of five commissioners 
appointed by the President. This board was established for 
the purpose of building up our merchant marine. Before the 
Civil War we had one of the finest and largest merchant 
marines in the world; but during that war so many of our 
trading-vessels had been swept from the seas (p. 325) that by 
the time the struggle was over our merchant fleet was prac- 
tically gone. After the Civil War for nearly fifty years we 
depended upon foreign ships to carry abroad the products of 
our factories and fields. But after the Shipping Board was 



450 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

established (in 1916) our merchant marine began to grow. 
It was made the duty of the Board to build, buy, or lease 
ships suitable for the ocean trade, and it went about its task 
in earnest. When three years had passed it had built more 
than a thousand fine vessels and was carrying ship-building 
forward on such an enormous scale that there was every in- 
dication that the United States would soon again lead all na- 
tions in the ocean carrying trade. 
"/^ Another law of great importance was the Federal Eight- 
Hour Act. This measure was hurried through Congress in 
tjie summer of 1916 in order to prevent a strike that threatened 
to tie up the railroads of the country. The trainmen employed 
on the railroads and their employers had been disputing for 
a long time about hours and wages, but could come to no 
agreement. So, late in August, President Wilson took a hand 
in the matter. He summoned the leaders of the trainmen 
and the managers of the railroads to Washington, and ad- 
dressed them, pointing out to them the disastrous results that 
would follow in the wake of a strike and appealing to them 
to come to an agreement. But no agreement was reached. 
The leaders of the trainmen went on with their plans for a 
strike, sending out an order that after seven o'clock on the 
morning of September 4 no trains would be run. Then 
President Wilson quickly went before Congress and informed 
that body that he had been assured by the leaders of the 
trainmen that they would be satisfied with an eight-hour day, 
and if that were granted there would be no strike. So with 
whip and spur an eight-hour law was hurried through Con- 
gress and was signed by the President a few hours before 
the threatened strike was to go into efifect. The strike was 
called ofif and the country was saved from a labor war that 
might have been almost as disastrous as real war. /^' 

But more important than any of the laws mentioned above 
was the National Defense Act. From the beginning of our 
national life until the outbreak of the Great War it had been 
our policy to maintain in times of peace a small standing army. 



IMPORTANT LAWS; INTERNATIONAL TROUBLES 451 

But no sooner had the cannon begun to roar in 1914 than 
there arose in the United States a sentiment for greater pre- 
paredness, and the sentiment gained strength with each suc- 
ceeding month. In December, 19 15, President Wilson urged 




Candidate Hughes Addressing People in the Campaign of 1916 

upon Congress the necessity of raising a large army and navy. 
Congress, agreeing with the President, gave him a fighting 
force whose total peace strength — including the troops of 
the National Guard and those of the Regular Army — was 
about 650,000 men and 28,000 officers, an army vastly larger 
than America ever dreamed of having in times of peace. 
Money was appropriated also for increasing the navy to a 
size which at the time seemed dazzling in its bigness.^ 

Election of 1916. While Congress was struggling with the 
railroad strike question and with the measures of prepared- 

^ As a further measure of preparedness the United States in the 
spring of 191 7 purchased from Denmark the Danish West Indies (now 
known as the Virgin Islands). These islands were secured in order 
that they might serve as a naval station and as a base for naval supplies. 



45- 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 







The Virgin Islands 

ness, a Presidential election was drawing near. When the 
time came in 191 6 for the Democrats to choose a candidate, 
they nominated President Wilson for a second term. The Re- 
publicans nominated Charles E. Hughes of New York. The 
Progressive party (p. 429) had by this time crumbled to 
pieces. In the election of 1916, however, many of the leading 
Progressives supported Mr. Hughes. The Socialists this 
year nominated Allan L. Benson of New York. Mr. Wilson 
received 274 electoral votes, and Mr. Hughes 257. 

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. Give an account of the Underwood Tariff and of the Income Tax 
Law of 1913. 

2. Why, by 1913, had it become necessary to reform the currency 
system? Give a full account of the Federal Reserve Act. 

3. What were the main provisions of the Clayton Trust Act? What 
service is rendered by the Federal Trade Commission? 

4. Give an account of the trouble with Mexico. 

5. What was the cause of the trouble which arose between Germany 
and the United States in 191S? How was the trouble settled? 

6. Give an account of the Federal Aid Road Act; of the Rural 



IMPORTANT LAWS; INTERNATIONAL TROUBLES 453 

Credits Act ; of the Federal Eight-Hour Act ; of the National Defense 
Act of 1916. 

7. Who were the Presidential candidates in igi6? What was the 
result of the election ? 

REVIEWS AND READING REFERENCES 

1. Dates: 1492, 1607, 1664, 1776, 1803, 1825, i860, 1908. 

2. Persons : Roger Williams, La Salle, Daniel Boone, Hamilton, 
Horace Mann, Stephen A. Douglas. 

3. Tell what you can about : the Pilgrims ; the Declaration of In- 
dependence ; the Stamp Act ; the Treason of Benedict Arnold ; the 
Whisky Insurrection. 

4. Reviews of Great Subjects: The Tariff; Foreign Relations since 
1789; Wars since 1789; Presidents: their Election and Inauguration. 

5. Reading References : 

(i) The Mexican Trouble: Ogg, 284-304. 

(2) Neutral Rights: Ogg, 305-320. 

(3) Preparedness and the Approval of War: Ogg, 384-399. 



LIX 
WAR 

In the last chapter we learned that our government tried to keep 
our country out of the Great War, and that in the summer of 

1916 it was quite generally believed that our efforts for peace had 
been successful. But as the weeks and months passed men could 
see that events were hurrying us into the strife. In the spring of 

1917 peace was found to be impossible, and our nation buckled on 
the sword to take part in the greatest war ever fought in all the 
history of mankind. 

Germany Renews Her Attacks upon American Vessels. 

— When President Wilson entered upon his second term the 
United States was drifting rapidly toward war. Late in 
January, 1917, Germany informed the world that within a 
large area of the sea surrounding the British Islands the ves- 
sels of neutrals would be sunk by her submarines without 
warning. Promptly on February i she began to make good 
her threat. Merchantman after merchantman went down, 
and commerce sufifered greater disasters than at any time 
since the war began. Two American vessels were sunk. 
This, of course, was more than our government could endure. 
President Wilson at once sent the German Ambassador home, 
and asked Congress for authority to arm American vessels 
in order that they might be prepared to defend themselves 
against the German submarines. In addressing Congress he 
used these words : " I request that you will authorize me to 
supply the merchant-ships with defensive arms, should that 
become necessary, and with the means of using them, and 
to employ any other instrumentalities or methods that may be 
necessary and adequate to protect our ships and our people 
in their legitimate and peaceful pursuits upon the seas." This 
meant that the President intended that our merchantmen 

454 



WAR 455 

should be prepared to make their way to the ports for which 
they were headed, submarines or no submarines. 

While the House of Representatives was considering a bill 
that provided for the arming of merchantmen, a piece of 
startling information came to light. It was announced that 
Germany was planning to join with Japan and Mexico in an 
attack upon our country, and that in the event of success 
Mexico, as a reward for her assistance, was to receive the 
States of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas ! The reward that 
Japan was to receive was not stated, but it was generally sup- 
posed that her share would be the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, 
and possibly California. 

When the news of this bold plan ' was made public the 
country was dumfounded. There was an outburst of resent- 
ment equal to that which was shown when the Lnsitania was 
sunk. On every side cries for war were heard, and a loud 
demand was made upon Congress to hasten the passage of a 
bill giving the President the power for which he asked. The 
House responded in double-quick fashion within a few hours 
after the plans of Germany were made known, and passed a 
bill authorizing the President to arm American merchant- 
vessels. In the Senate, however, the bill was delayed by a 
small group of Senators who were opposed to it, and when 
the life of the Congress came to an end, on March 4, no vote 
on the Armed Ship Bill had been taken. Had' a vote been 
taken, however, the bill would certainly have passed by an 
overwhelming majority. 

The Call to Arms. The failure of the Armed Ship Bill did 
nothing to check the movement toward war. Germany was 
sinking American ships and taking American lives, and as 
long as she continued to do this it was useless to talk of peace. 
President Wilson, having abandoned all hope of peace, and 
having come to the conclusion that the sending out of armed 
ships was not enough, on April 2 went before Congress and 
asked that body to draw the sword against the German gov- 
ernment, on the ground that Germany had drawn her sword 



456 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



not only against the United States but against the whole world. 
He asked Congre'ss to take immediate steps to put this country 
in a more thorough state of defense and to exert all its power 
and employ all its resources to bring the government of the 
German Empire to terms and end the war. 

" It is a fearful thing," he said, " to lead this great peace- 




President Wilson Giving His War Message to Congress 



ful people into war. into the most terrible and disastrous of 
all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But 
the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for 
the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts, 
for democracy, for the rights and liberties of small nations, 
for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free 
people as shall bring peace and safety to all nations, and make 
the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate 
our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and every- 
thing that we have, with the pride of those who know that 
the day has come when America is privileged to spend her 



WAR 4:7 

blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth 
and the blessings and the peace which she has treasured. God 
helping her, she can do no other." 

The President's message was a trumpet-call to arms, and 
was justly regarded as an utterance worthy to rank with the 
messages of W ashington and Lincoln. Congress responded 
to the call in a whole-hearted manner and with remarkable 
promptness. By April 6 both branches had declared for war. 
The vote in the House stood 373 for war and 50 against ; in 
the Senate the vote was 82 for and 6 against. And the whole 
country responded to the President's call, for it felt with him 
that the German government was threatening the peace and 
liberty of the world, and that its power must be broken. 

Throwing the Strength of the Nation Against the Foe. 
When we entered the war we realized fully that we had be- 
fore us a stupendous task. The entire strength of a mighty 
nation had to be thrown against an enemy that was fighting on 
battlefields that lay across an ocean three thousand miles in 
width. At the outset it was clear that four things must be 
done as quickly as possible : ships of our navy must be de- 
spatched with all swiftness to the scene where the German 
submarines were operating ; food had to be supplied to 
France, Italy, and Great Britain in as large quantities as pos- 
sible ; money in large sums had to be furnished to the govern- 
ments of all the countries that were fighting on our side ; and 
an armed force had to be hurried to Flanders and France. 

The progress made in the accomplishment of these tasks 
was truly wonderful. In less than two months our torpedo- 
boat destroyers were in British waters fighting the deadly sub- 
marines. The shipment of goods was carried forward with 
amazing success. Never in the history of this or any other 
country had food supplies been sent out in such quantities 
as were exported from American ports in the last days of 
May. The furnishing of money was not such a difficult task, 
for we were the richest nation in the world. Soon our finan- 
cial machine was in working order, and American money was 



458 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



flowing in great streams into the treasuries of the AlHes. 
First and last, we lent them about $io,ooo,ck)0,ooo. 

The fourth task, the sending abroad of an armed force, was 
the most difficult one. Our regular army was small, and it 
seemed that a year must pass before a great body of troops 
could be trained and sent abroad. But when in March Gen- 
eral Joffre came to America and told us that France needed 
troops, and needed them at once, President Wilson remembered 
the services of Lafayette and decided that General Pershing, 
with about 25,000 men, should be promptly despatched for 
duty on the fighting line in France. 

But the number of soldiers in the regular army — hardly 




Young Men Waitins; Their Turn to Register Under the Selective 

Draft Act 

100,000 — was but a mere handful when compared witli the 
number that would be needed. For it was estimated, that, 
if Germany was to be conquered, half a million, perhaps a 
million, men wotild have to be sent to France. How was such 
an immense body of soldiers to be raised? Many of our 
citizens thought that the President should call for volunteers, 



WAR 



459 



as President Lincoln had done at the outbreak of the Civil 
War (p. 304). But Congress, taking a different view of the 
matter, determined to raise the army by draft or conscription 
(P- 3?)^)- I" May it passed the Selective Draft Act, which 
provided that, on a day to be named by the President, there 
should be a general registration of all young men who had 
reached their twenty-first birthday but who had not reached 
their thirty-first birthday, the purpose of this registration 
being to secure an enrolment of names from which to draft 




Working for the American Red Cross 

soldiers for the army that was to be used in the war against 
Germany. 

June 5 was named for the day of registration, and on that 
day all our young men within the stated ages, the married 
and unmarried, the foreigners and native-born Americans, the 
strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, were registered. 
From ocean to ocean, and from Canada to Mexico, young men 
to the number of nearly 10,000,000 entered registration offices 
in tens of thousands of communities, and there enrolled for 
service in the war. Thus the machinery of conscription was 
set in motion. In July about 700,000 men were selected from 
those who had registered in June. These were organized as 
a National Army. From time to time additional men were 
drafted, and the size of the National Army went on increasing 
until it reached nearly 4,000,000. 



46o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

Helping Uncle Sam. In the work of carrying on the war 
vast numbers of people who were in no way connected with 
the government stepped forward and gave their services to 
Uncle Sam, without pay and without hope of reward. When 
Liberty Loans amounting to many billions of dollars' were 
asked for, thousands of bankers and newspapers and orators 
joined in making appeals to the people to lend their money 
with the result that they offered to lend more than had been 
asked for. When the Red Cross asked for a gift of $ioo,- 
000,000, men and women all over the country, knowing that 
the money would be spent in aiding Uncle Sam's soldiers, took 
up the work of raising the fund, and quickly the sum asked 
for was collected. 

Then there was the Council of National Defense, whose 
purpose was to place at the disposal of the President any- 
thing and everything that would aid him to win the war. 
This council consisted of nearly a thousand prominent persons, 
business men, railroad presidents, university professors, labor 
leaders, social workers, inventors, physicians. More than a 
hundred members of the council gave their entire time to war 
work without receiving a cent of pay. '' Foremost among those 
who rendered distinguished service were Mr. Herbert Hoover, 
who administered the law providing for food conservation ; 
Mr. H. A. Garfield, who served as fuel administrator; and 
Mr. Samuel Gompers, who used to great advantage his in- 
fluence as a leader of workingmen (p. 387). The women of 
the country also came forward to do their. "bit," and noth- 
ing could be worthy of more praise and admiration than the 
devotion and loyalty shown by the American women during 
the war./) 

Training the Boys and Taking them Overseas. While our 
patriotic citizens were helping Uncle Sam in this whole-hearted 
manner, the officers of the Army and Navy were giving all 
their energies to the training of the boys and taking them over- 
seas. As a rule the American soldier who went to France had 
to be trained six months at home and two or three months 



WAR 461 

abroad before he was ready for fighting at the battle front. 
The training was done on a tremendous scale, for it was soon 
seen that millions of men would be needed if Germany was to 
be beaten. Little army cities, called cantonments, were 
rapidly built in different parts of the country for housing the 
soldiers while they drilled and received the necessary instruc- 
tion in the art of war. In each cantonment there were ac- 
commodations for nearly fifty thousand men. In addition to 
the cantonments and regular training camps there were schools 
for the training of officers, aviators, engineers, and others 
whose duties were of a special nature. Altogether the capacity 
of the camps and cantonments was sufficient for the housing 
and training of nearly a million and a half of men. 

The training of such a vast army was indeed a difficult 
task but after the training was finished something even more 
difficult had to be done : the troops had to be carried across 
an ocean teeming with the deadly submarines of the enemy. 
And the submarine was 'not the only thing that stood in the 
way of transporting our army. There was such a lack of 
ships that it seemed at first that it would be impossible to 
carry the troops over. For nearly three years Germany had 
been waging a submarine warfare on the shipping of almost 
every nation, with the result that ships were scarce all over 
the world. Still, America was equal to the occasion. Every 
ship that could be pressed into the service was eagerly seized. 
We made use of the German vessels — about 100 in number — 
which were lying interned in our harbors ; we hired ships 
from neutral nations and we used hundreds of the ships of 
the Allies ; we built ships of our own in scores of shipyards 
where hundreds of thousands of strong men worked with 
all their might to build as quickly as possible the vessels that 
were so badly needed. Thus in one way and another we 
managed to get hold of enough vessels to make the bridge 
of ships to Europe — the bridge which the President said was 
necessary, if the war was to be won. 

At first the movement of troops overseas was slow, not only 



462 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

because ships were scarce, but also because it required time 
to train the men. But by the autumn of 1917 the training 
camps were active and the stream of soldiers bound for 
France began to flow. As the months passed the stream 
widened and grew in volume until it became a mighty flood. 
Cy the end of 191 7 our boys were going over at the rate of 
50,000 a month; by July, 1918, they were being rushed across 
at the rate of 10.000 a day. Before the end of October the 
number of Americans who had embarked for France exceeded 
2,000,000. And the boys crossed in safety ; the submarines 
were cheated of their prey. Not a single transport ship on 
i'.s voyage to France was lost. For this splendid record we 
must thank our Xavy which armed and convoyed the vessels 
carrying the troops. 

The Americans Bring Timely Aid to the Allies. Our men 
began to land in France in large numbers just at a time when 
the Allies were sorely in need of help. For early in 19 18 the 
Germans massed their entire force of nearly 4,000,000 men, 
with the purpose of making a drive, or of making a succes- 
sion of drives, that would crush the Allies completely. And 
they hoped to crush them quickly. They wanted to win the 
war before a large American army could appear upon the 
scene. For the sake of a quick and crushing victory they 
were willing to sacrifice the loss of almost any number of 
German .soldiers. 

On March 28, 1918. the Germans began their terrific as- 
sault. For a while the whole world held its breath in sus- 
pense. The drive was made with such violence that the Al- 
lies were pushed back, and for several days it seemed that 
their line would break and that the Germans would capture 
Amiens, a great railroad center where the British supplies 
were, and then either press on to the channel ports or turn 
their armies southward and take Paris. But the British and 
the French fought stubbornly and with wonderful heroism, 
and Amiens was saved. So the first drive of the Germans 



WAR 463 

failed. Germany was quick, however, to begin a second drive. 
Again they were checked. By this time the troops of the United 
States, Great Britain and Italy, as well as those of France, had 
all been placed under the control of General Foch and this 
unity of control was working to the advantage of the Allies. 
Late in May the Germans began the third drive. 

They had now to face a new enemy, for the Americans were 
at the front many thousand strong. At Chateau-Thierry our 
Second Division blocked the enemy's advance and in doing 
so stopped one of the most dangerous of the German drives. 
" We all thank God," said President Wilson, " that our men 
went in force into the line of battle just at the critical moment 
when the whole fate of the world seemed to hang in the balance, 
and threw their fresh strength into the ranks of freedom in 
time to turn the whole tide and sweep of the fateful 
struggle." 

The victory of our boys at Chateau-Thierry was indeed a 
great event in the history of the war. It brought joy to the 
hearts of the Allies, for they saw that if the enemy had not 
been halted he might have been able to push on to Paris. 
But the victory of the Americans brought gloom to the hearts 
of the Germans. For it caused them to realize that a new foe 
had to be dealt with and they had learned to their sorrow that 
it was a foe that could fight. And their gloom grew deeper 
when they reflected that the number of American troops that 
had fought at Chateau-Thierry was only a handful when com- 
pared with the hundreds of thousands who would presently 
be coming forward to take their stand on the battle front. 

The Americans Help to Carry the Allies to Victory. 
After their failure at Chateau-Thierry the Germans made two 
more drives, but both times they were foiled. By the middle 
of July they saw only too plainly that their great offensive 
movement had spent its force and that they must begin a 
defensive movement, that is, they must gradually draw back 
toward their frontiers, fighting as they retired. As soon as 



464 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 



they began their defensive movement General Foch began an 
offensive campaign with the result that before many weeks 
passed the Germans were on the retreat, suffering defeat after 
defeat. 

In this advance of the Allies the Americans rendered dis- 




Map Showing Where the Americans Fought 

tinguished service from the beginning to the end. And the 
blows of the Americans grew heavier and heavier as their 
numbers grew larger and larger. At St. Mihiel in a three 
days' fight with a force of more than 500,000 troops they 
drove the enemy from a position which they had long held, 
captured 16,000 prisoners, and recovered 200 square miles of 
territory. But it was in the Argonne Forest that our boys 
did the hardest fighting. Here every available American di- 
vision was thrown against the enemy and every available Ger- 
man division was thrown in to meet them. The battle in the 



WAR 



465 



Argonne was beyond comparison the greatest ever fought by 
an American army and one of the greatest battles in the his- 
tory of the world. The troops on the American side numbered 
nearly 1,200,000. The battle began in the last days of Sep- 
tember and continued for forty-seven days. Foot by foot all 
through October the 
American troops 
pushed back the vast 
German armies and 
by November the 
power of the enemy 
was breaking fast. 

The Armistice. By 
November i, it was 
not only on the battle 
front that things were 
looking bad for Ger- 
many. For by that 
date her Allies (Bul- 
garia, Turkey and 
Austria) had decided 
to withdraw their aid 
and the German peo- 
ple were threatening 
to revolt. The Ger- 
man leaders for some 
time had seen certain 
defeat staring them in 
the face and as early 
as October 6 had 




New York Celebrates 
Showering the City 
" Scraps of Paper " 



the Armistice 
with Millions 



by 

of 



asked that the fighting might cease for a while in order that 
peace might be made. On November 11, 191 8, this request 
of the Germans for an armistice was granted. 

By the terms of the xA.rmistice Germany agreed to withdraw 
her soldiers from Belgium and France ; to surrender her sub- 
marines and disarm most of her battleships ; to hand over to 



466 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES • 

the Allies immense numbers of cannon, machine guns, air- 
planes, locomotives and freight cars ; to allow the German 
territory west of the Rhine to be occupied by the Allied armies. 
By accepting these terms Germany practically disarmed her- 
self and agreed to an unconditional surrender. " The war," 
said President Wilson when announcing the terms of the 
surrender to Congress, " thus comes to an end. for having ac- 
cepted these terms it will be impossible for the German com- 
mand to renew it." 

The Losses of War. And what an awful war it was! 
Never before in all history was there such a cruel and bloody 
struggle. The fighting lasted for fifty-two months. Nearly 
every important nation on earth was engaged. The deaths in 
this war were greater than all the deaths in all wars in all 
the world for more than loo years previous. More than 
7,000,000 men were killed and twice as many were wounded. 
i)i Americans about 50,000 lost their lives and about four 
times as many were wounded. The total cost of the war to all 
the countries engaged was about $200,000,000,000, a su-m so 
large that the human mind cannot really comprehend how 
great a sum it is. Our own share of the cost was about $14,- 
000,000,000, an amount about equal to the value of all the 
gold produced in the whole world from the discovery of 
America to the present time. 

But figures alone do not tell the whole story. When we think 
of the brave and strong men who were killed in the war we 
must at the same time think of the millions of women who 
were made widows, of the millions of children who were 
made orphans, and of the millions whose health was shat- 
tered by the hardships of the struggle. Then, too, we must 
think of the hundreds of towns and cities that were laid in 
ruins, and of the millions of acres of land that was torn 
up and rendered unfit for cultivation. Death, debt, and 
devastation — these have always been the price of war ; but 
never in the history of man was the price so high as it was 
in the conflict that came to an end on November 11, 1918. 



WAR 467 



QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 

1. In what way did Germany offend the United States early in 1917? 

2. Give an account of President Wilson's call to arms. 

3. After we entered the war what four things had to be done very 
quickly? Give an accoiuit of the Selective Draft Act. 

4. In what ways was Uncle Sam helped by private citizens ? 

5. Give an account of the training of the soldiers, and of their trans- 
portation to Europe. 

6. What was the military situation in France at the time our boys 
began to arrive? 

7. What was the effect of our victory at Chateau-Thierry ? 

8. Tell the story of the fighting at St. Mihiel ; in the Argonne. 
g. Give an account of the Armistice. 

10, What were the losses of the war? 



PEACE 

Having done their part in breaking the power of the enemy 
in far-ofif lands our people, as soon as the Armistice was signed, 
began at once to plan for victories of peace, and it was a hope 
of every American heart that the triumphs of peace would be 
no less glorious than those of war. 

Disbanding the Army. Now that the war was over one of 
the first things that the Government had to do was to disband 
the Army. This was no easy task, for in the camps of the 
United States there were two milHons of soldiers to be re- 
leased, and in France there were two millions to be brought 
home. The task of demobilization was undertaken with a 
will, and soon great ships crowded with happy soldiers were 
sailing into American harbors. Within twelve months after 
the signing of the Armistice practically all the boys in France 
had been brought to America and all in the home camps had 
been released. The di.sbanded men went back to the farm 
and workshop and office and store, and the great Nation that 
had been bristling with arms at once renewed its peaceful 
way of living. 



468 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

The Prohibition Amendment. During the war the enemies 
of the saloons worked day and night to secure the adoption 
of a Prohibition Amendment. This Amendment was to pro- 
hibit the manufacture and sale of inloxicating liquors through- 
out the whole extent of the United States and throughout all 
territory belonging to the United States. Peace had hardly 
come before the efforts of the Prohibitionists were crowned 




© Underwood & Underwood 
Troops from Western States Returning Home on the Aqtiitania 

with success. For in January, 1919, the Secretary of State 
announced that three- fourths of all the States had ratified the 
Prohibition Amendment. Thus one of the first things done by 
the government and by the people at the beginning of the 
peace-time period was to provide for a most remarkable social 
reform. 

The Prohibition Amendment was the third which had been 
adopted within a period of six years, for, as you remember, 
two amendments were adopted in 1913 (p. 443). That is to 
say, within a very short period of time, the peopl'e by making 
changes in the Constitution, were able to secure t-hree very 



WAR 469 

important reforms. Here is a lesson in Americanism that 
ought to be thoroughly learned. That lesson is this : in Amer- 
ica we have a constitutional government and can bring about 
any reform we desire simply by changing the Constitution. 
And the best of it is, we can secure reforms in a peaceful, 
orderly manner. We do not have to resort to violence or 
revolution. So Americans ought not to think for a moment 
about violence when there is something they want the govern- 
ment to do. They must always remember that they have a 
constitutional government and that they can secure what thev 
wish in a constitutional way. 

' ' The Stranger Within Our Gates ' ' ; Americanization. 
The wa-r was hardly over before we began to realize that we 
had to deal, and deal promptly, with serious problems con- 
nected with our foreign population. You remember that in the 
Eighties our law-makers passed laws shutting the doors upon 
certain classes of undesirable immigrants (p. 369). In 1917 
Congress put up still higher the bars against foreigners. This 
time it passed a law forbidding the entrance of illiterate aliens. 
The law provides that aliens over sixteen years of age desir- 
ing to reside in the United States must be able to read either 
the English language or some other language. If they are 
not able to read, they are refused admission and are sent back 
to the country from which they came. 

But it was soon seen that merely to keep out ignorant aliens 
would not fully solve the problem of the foreigner. In the 
opening years of the twentieth century Greeks, Russians, Ital- 
ians, Poles, Hungarians, Roumanians, rushed to America in 
throngs greater than was ever known in the history of im- 
migration. In twelve years before the outbreak of the war 
in Europe the tremendous number of 15,000,000 foreigners 
came to the United States and entered industrial life. They 
went to work in our mines, and factories, and mills, and their 
labor was of great value to the nation. But they did no': 
enter into the life of the American people ; they did not really 
become Americans. They were ignorant of our language, they 



470 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

did not understand our government, and they had no appre- 
ciation of the blessings of American citizenship. They were 
indeed " strangers within our gates " and during the war with 
Germany we began to see more clearly than ever before that 
the presence of this large body of strangers was a menace to 
America and that something must be done to remove the dan- 
ger. 

The problem was one of Americanization ; the foreigners 
must be made Americans. They must learn to read and speak 
the language of Americans ; they must be taught American 
history and learn the principles of our government. They 
must be encouraged to enter into the social and political life 
of our people and live in the American way. In fact, they 
must be made Americans through and through. This .was 
the problem that had to be solved and earnestly did our peo- 
ple undertake its solution. Public spirited citizens carried on 
in a private way the work of Americanization, and night 
classes were formed in order that foreigners of any age might 
attend and learn the things that good Americans must know. 
Uncle Sam himself became interested in the subject of Ameri- 
canization. Early in 1920 the United States passed the Ken- 
yon Americanization Bill with the view of giving instruction 
to Americans. This bill provided that all aliens between the 
ages of sixteen and forty-five who cannot speak, read or write 
English should attend school not less than 200 hours a year. 
In order to carry out the purpose of the law there was ap- 
propriated a considerable sum of money to be distributed to 
the different States, each State to receive an amount appor- 
tioned to the number of illiterate aliens living within its boun- 
daries. No State, however, was to receive a share of the 
money unless it appropriated an equal sum for the same pur- 
pose. Thus the Government at Washington and the govern- 
ment of the States were to work together at the great and 
important task of Americanization. 

The Peace Conference and the League of Nations. About 
the time Congress was considering the Americanization Bill 



WAR 471 

the League of Nations was holding its first session in Paris. 
The League was formed by the Peace Conference which met 
in Paris a few weeks after the Armistice was signed. The 
Conference was called for the purpose of arranging the terms 
of a treaty of peace with Germany and her allies. President 
Wilson represented the United States at the Conference, at- 
tending its meetings in person. He went to Paris, he said, so 
that he might be in close touch with the Conference and take 
part in the discussions and settlement of the main features of 
the treaty. After about six months of debate the Conference 
agreed upon a treaty which was signed on June 28 by the rep- 
resentatives of nearly all the nations in the world. The 
treaty provided that Germany must give back Alsace and 
Lorraine ( p. 409) ; that she must give up her colonies ; that 
she must not maintain a regular army of more than 100,000 
men ; that she must no longer raise armies by conscription ; 
that her navy must be greatly reduced ; that she must lose 
her submarines ; that she must pay France and Belgium an 
immense sum — about $25,000,000,000 — for the destruction 
she had wrought in those countries ; and that she must devote a 
certain portion of her material resources to the building up 
of the regions which her armies had devastated in Belgium 
and France. Germany had maintained great armies and 
navies but after the Conference had imposed upon her the 
hard conditions laid down in the treaty she probably no longer 
believed that warfare was a paying enterprise. 

Besides arranging for the terms upon which Germany might 
have peace, the Conference drew up a plan for a League of 
Nations and provided that if three of the five great powers rep- 
resented at the Conference (the United States, Great Bri- 
tain, France, Italy and Japan) should agree to the plan it 
should become a part of the treaty. By the last of October 
(1919) the Governments of Great Britain, France and Italy 
had agreed to the League. It therefore became an accom- 
plished fact. It held its first session in Paris, although its 
permanent meeting place is at Geneva. 



472 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 

The main purpose of the League of Nations is to secure 
peace throughout the world. The statesmen who estabhshed 
it beheved that there ought to be somewhere a force that has 
power to deal with a matter that threatens the peace of the 
world. They believed that the war which broke out in 1914 
might have been prevented if there had been in existence a 
powerful League of Nations that could have said to Germany, 
" You must not march into Belgium ; you must not attack 
France ; you must not plunge the whole world into war." 
The member States belonging to the League of Nations agree : 
to reduce their armies and navies ; to inform each other of 
their existing armies and of their naval and military programs ; 
to respect each other's territory and personal independence ; 
to submit international disputes either to arbitration or to in- 
quiry by the council (a body composed of representatives of 
the League), refraining from going to war till three months 
after an award of the court of arbitration or a unanimous rec- 
ommendation of the council has been made, and even then 
not to go to war with a State that accepts the award or the 
recomm.endation ; to regard a State which has broken the 
covenants of the League as having committed an act of war 
against the League and to break ofi trade relations with it, 
and if force is to be applied, the council recommends what 
amount of force shall be supplied by the several governments 
concerned. A State which breaks its agreement may be ex- 
pelled from the League by the council. 

It was the hope of President Wilson that the United States 
might become a member of the League, but it could not be- 
come a member without the consent of the United States 
Senate. This consent was not readily given. Indeed at the 
time the League held its first session (January 16, 1920) our 
country was still outside this new society of nations. 



APPENDIX I 
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

In Congress, July 4, 1776. 
the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of 

AMERICA 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate 
and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God en- 
title them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created 
equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, de- 
riving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, when- 
ever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is 
the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new 
government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its 
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments 
long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes ; 
and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more dis- 
posed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by 
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long 
train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably tlie same object, 
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their 
right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to pro- 
vide new guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient 
sufferance of these colonies ; and such is now the necessity which con- 
strains them to alter their former systems of government. The history 
of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries 
and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an 
absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be sub- 
mitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary 
for the public good. 

473 



474 APPENDIX I 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent 
should be obtained ; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected 
to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and for- 
midable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncom- 
fortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the 
sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with 
manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause 
others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of anni- 
hilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise : the 
State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of inva- 
sion from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States ; for that 
purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing 
to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the con- 
ditions of new appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent 
to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of 
their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of 
officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace, standing armies, without the 
consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior 
to, the civil power. 

He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his assent 
to their acts of pretended legislation : 

For qua-rtering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any mur- 
ders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States : 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world : 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent : 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury: 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses : 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring 
province, establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarging its 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 475 

boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for 
introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies : 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and 
altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments : 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves in- 
vested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protec- 
tion, and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and 
destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries 
to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, 
with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, 
to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their 
friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeav- 
ored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian 
savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction 
of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress 
in the most humble terms : our repeated petitions have been answered 
only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by 
every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free 
people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We 
have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature 
to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded 
them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We 
have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have 
conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these 
usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and cor- 
respondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and con- 
sanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which de- 
nounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, 
enemies in war, in peace friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, 
in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the 
world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by 
authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and 
declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free 
and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to 
the British crown, and that all political connection between them and 



476 



APPENDIX I 



the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and 
that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, 
conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all 
other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And 
for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protec- 
tion of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, 
our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 

John Hancock. 



Nezv Hampshire 
Josiah Bartlett, 
Wm. Whipple, 
Matthew Thornton. 

Massachusetts Bay 
Saml. Adams, 
John Adams. 
Robt. Treat Paine, 
Elbridge Gerry. 

Rhode Island 
Step. Hopkins, 
William Ellery. 

Connecticut 
Roger Sherman, 
Sam'el Huntington, 
Wm. Williams, 
Oliver Wolcott. 

Neid' York 
Wm. Floyd, 
Phil. Livingston, 
Frans. Lewis, 
Lewis Morris. 



New Jersey 
Richd. Stockton, 
Jno. Witherspoon, 
Fras. Hopkinson, 
John Hart, 
Abra. Clark. 

Pennsylvania 
Robt. Morris, 
Benjamin Rush, 
Benja. Franklin, 
John Morton, 
Geo. Clymer, 
Jas. Smith, 
Geo. Taylor, 
James Wilson, 
Geo. Ross. 

Delazvare 
Csesar Rodney, 
Geo. Read, 
Tho. M'Kean. 

Maryland 
Samuel Chase, 
Wm. Paca, 
Thos. Stone, 



Charles Carroll of Car- 
roUton. 

llrginia 
George Wythe, 
Richard Henry Lee, 
Th. Jefferson, 
Benja. Harrison, 
Thos. Nelson, jr., 
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton. 

North Carolina 
Wm. Hooper, 
Joseph Hewes, 
John Penn. 

South Carolina 
Edward Rutledge, 
Thos. Heyward, Junr., 
Thomas Lynch, Junr., 
Arthur Middleton. 

Georgia 
Button Gwinnett, 
Lyman Hall, 
Geo. Walton. 



APPENDIX II 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this 
Constitution for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I 

Section i. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
House of Representatives. 

Section 2. i The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, 
and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for 
electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature. 

2 No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained 
to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the 
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that 
State in which he shall be chosen. 

3 Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according to 
their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a 
term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other 
persons.^ The actual enumeration shall be made within three years 
after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within 
every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by 
law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for 
every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one representa- 
tive ; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New 
Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York 
six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland 
six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five. South Carolina five, and Georgia 
three. 

1 The last half of this sentence was superseded by the 13th and 14th Amend- 
ments. (See p. 490, following.) 

477 



478 APPENDIX II 

4 When vacancies liappen in the representation from any State, the 
executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies. 

5 The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other 
officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Section 3. i The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof for six 
years ; and each senator shall have one vote. 

2 Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the 
first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at 
the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration 
of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth 
year, so that one third may be chosen every second year ; and if va- 
cancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the 
legislature of any State, the executive thereof may make temporary 
appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then 
fill such vacancies. 

3 No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the 
age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, 
and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for 
which he shall be chosen. 

4 The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

5 The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president 
pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall 
exercise the office of President of the United States. 

6 The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. 
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall 
preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of 
two thirds of the members present. 

7 Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than 
to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office 
of honor, trust or profit under the United States : but the party con- 
victed shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judg- 
ment and punishment, according to law. 

Section 4. i The times, places, and manner of holding elections for 
senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the 
legislature thereof ; but the Congress may at any time by law make or 
alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

2 The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by 
law appoint a different day. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 479 

Section 5. i Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns 
and quahfications of its own members, and a majority of each shall 
constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn 
from day. to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of 
absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each 
House may provide. 

2 Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its 
members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two 
thirds, expel a member. 

3 Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time 
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judg- 
ment' require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either 
House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, 
be entered on the journal. 

4 Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Section 6. i The senators and representatives shall receive a com- 
pensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of 
the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except 
treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest 
during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in 
going to and returning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in 
either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. 

2 No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he 
was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the 
United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments 
whereof shall have been increased during such time ; and no person 
holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either 
House during his continuance in office. 

Section 7. i All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the 
House of Representatives ; but the Senate may propose or concur with 
amendments as on other bills. 

2 Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the Presi- 
dent of the United States ; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he 
shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have 
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, 
and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two tliirds 
of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with 
the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be recon- 
sidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a 
law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be deter- 
mined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and 



48o APPENDIX II 

against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respec- 
tively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten 
days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, 
the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless 
the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it 
shall not be a law. 

3 Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the 
United States ; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved 
by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and 
limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Section 8. i The Congress shall have power to lay and collect 
taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the 
common defense and general welfare of the United States ; but all 
duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
States ; 

2 To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

3 To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian tribes ; 

4 To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws 
on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

5 To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, 
and fix the standard of weights and measures ; 

6 To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States ; 

7 To establish post offices and post roads ; 

8 To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for 
limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their re- 
spective writings and discoveries ; 

9 To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ; 

ID To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offenses against the law of nations ; 

11 To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water ; 

12 To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to 
that use shall be for a longer term than two vears ; 

13 To provide and maintain a navy ; 

14 To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces ; 

15 To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions ; 

16 To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 481 

and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service 
of the United States, reserving to the States respectively the appoint- 
ment of the officers, and the authority o-f training the militia according 
to the discipline prescribed by Congress : 

17 To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over 
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of 
particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of 
the government of the United States, ^ and to exercise like authority 
over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State 
in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, 
arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings ; and 

18 To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry- 
ing into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested 
by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any 

.department or officer thereof. 

Section 9. i The migration or importation of such persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be 
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hun- 
dred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, 
not exceeding ten dollars for each person.- 

2 The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may re- 
quire it. 

3 No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

4 No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in propor- 
tion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

5 No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 

6 No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or 
revenue to the ports of one State over those of another: nor shall ves- 
sels bound to, or from, one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay 
duties in another. 

7 No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of 
appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account of 
the receipts and e.xpenditures of all public money shall be published 
from time to time. 

8 No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : and no 
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without 
the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, 
or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State. 

Section io.'' i No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con- 
federation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit 

1 The District of Columbia, which comes under these regulations, had not then 
been erected. 

2 A temporary clause, no longer in force. See also Article V, p. 486. 

3 See also the loth, 13th, 14th, and isth Amendments, pp. 489, 490, 491. 



482 APPENDIX II 

bills of -credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in 
payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law 
impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

2 No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any im- 
posts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws : and the net produce of all 
duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be 
for the use of the treasury of the United States ; and all such laws 
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. 

3 No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of 
tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 
agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or 
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as 
will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II 

Section i. i The executive power shall l:)e vested in a President 
of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the 
term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for 
the same term, be elected, as follows : 

2 Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof 
may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators 
and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress : 
but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or 
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the 
same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the 
persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list 
they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the gov- 
ernment of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate. 
The president of the Senate, shall, in the presence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall 
then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall 
be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of 
electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such ma- 
jority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Repre- 
sentatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for Presi- 
dent; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on 
the list the said house shall in like manner choose the President. But 
in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the repre- 
sentation from each State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose 
shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the States, 
and a, majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 483 

every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the 
greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. 
But if there should remain two or more virho have equal votes, the 
Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.^ 

3 The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, 
and the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be 
the same throughout the United States. 

4 No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United 
States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible 
to the office of President ; neither sh^ll any person be eligible to that 
office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and 
been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 

5. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, 
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said 
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress 
may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or 
inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what 
officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accord- 
ingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

6 The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a 
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during 
the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not re- 
ceive within that period any other emolument from the United States, 
or any of them. 

7 Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the 
following oath or affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that 
I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, 
and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the 
Constitution of the United States." 

Section 2. i The President shall be commander in chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several 
States, when called into the actual service of the United States ; he 
may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of 
the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of 
their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and 
pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of im- 
peachment. 

2 He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present 
concur ; and he shall nonruinate, and by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and 
consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the 
United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided 
1 This paragraph superseded by the uth Amendment, p. 489. 



484 APPENDIX II 

for, and which shall be established by law : but the Congress may by 
law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, 
in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of depart- 
ments. 

3 The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
shall expire at the end of their next session. 

' Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress infor- 
mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration 
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient: he may, on 
extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and 
in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of 
adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think 
proper ; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers ; he 
shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commis- 
sion all the officers of the United States. 

Section 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of 
the United States, shall be removed from; office on impeachment for, 
and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde- 
meanors. 

ARTICLE III 

Section i. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested 
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may 
from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Su- 
preme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, 
and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation 
which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. 

Section 2. i The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law 
and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United 
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their author- 
ity; — to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and 
consuls; — to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; — to 
controversies to w^hich the United States shall be a party; — to con- 
troversies between two or more States ; — between a State and citizens 
of another State ;i — between citizens of different States, — between 
citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different 
States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, 
citizens or subjects. 

2 In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con- 
suls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court 
shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before men- 
tioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to 

1 See the i ith Amendment, p. 489. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 485 

law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the 
Congress shall make. 

3 The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be 
by jury: and such trial shall he held in the State where the said crimes 
shall have been committed ; but when not committed within any State, 
the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law 
have directed. 

Section 3. i Treason against the United States, shall consist only 
in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving 
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless 
on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on con- 
fession in open court. 

2 The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of 
treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or 
forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV 

Section i. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the 
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. 
And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which 
such, acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect 
thereof. 

Section 2. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privi- 
leges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall 
on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, 
be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the 
crime. 

3 No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall 
be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor 
may be due.^ 

Section 3. i New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the juris- 
diction of any other State ; nor any State be formed by the junction of 
two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legis- 
latures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

2 The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belong- 
ing to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so 

1 See the 13th Amendment, p. 490. 



486 APPENDIX II 

construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any 
particular State. 

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion ; and on application of the legislature, or of the 
executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic 
violence. 

ARTICLE V 
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution or, on the 
application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall 
call a convention for proposing amendments, whicli, in either case, 
shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, 
when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States, 
or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress ; Provided that 
no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight 
hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth 
clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; and that no State, with- 
out its consent, shall be deprived of its equal su-ffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI 

1 All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

2 This Constitution, and the laws of the LJnited States which shall 
be made in pursuance thereof ; and all treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 
law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 

3 The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the mem- 
bers of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
officers, both of the Lhiited States, and of the several States, shall be 
bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no reli- 
gious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public 
trust under the United States. 

ARTICLE VII 
The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient 
for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratify- 
ing the same. 
Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 



487 



seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the 
United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have 
hereunto subscribed our names, 

Go: Wa-shington — 

Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia 



Neiv Hampshire 
John Langdon 
Nicholas Gilman 

Massachusetts 
Nathaniel Gorham 
Rufus King 

Connecticut 
Wm. Saml. Johnson 
Roger Sherman 

Netv York 
Alexander Hamilton 

Nezv Jersey 
Wil : Livingston 
David Brearley 
Wm. Paterson 
Jona : Dayton 

Pennsylvania 
B. Franklin 
Thomas Mifflin 
Robt. Morris 
Geo. Clymer 
Thos. Fitzsimons 
Jared Ingersoll 
James Wilson 
Gouv Morris 



Delaivare 
Geo : Read 

Gunning Bedford Jun 
John Dickinson 
Richard Bassett 
Jaco : Broom 

Maryland . 
James McHenry 
Dan of St. Thos Jenifer 
Danl. Carroll 

l^irginia 
John Blair — 
James Madison Jr. 

North Carolina 
Wm. Blount 
Richd. Dobbs Spaight 
Hu Williamson 

South Carolina 
J. Rutledge, 

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 
Charles Pinckney 
Pierce Butler 



William Few 
Abr Baldwin 



Georgia 



Attest 
William Jackson Secretary. 

Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the 
United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the 
legislatures of the several States pursuant to the fifth article of the 
original Constitution. 

ARTICLE 1 1 
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 

1 The first ten -Amendments were adopted in 1791. 



488 APPENDIX II 

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, 
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

ARTICLE II 

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be 
infringed. 

ARTICLE III 

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without 
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be 
prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup- 
ported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be 
searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V 
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infa- 
mous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, 
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, 
when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any 
person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of 
life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness 
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use 
without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI 
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature 
and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his 
favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 

ARTICLE VII 
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United 
States, than according to the rules of the common law. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 489 

ARTICLE VITI 
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor 
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX 
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be 
construed to deny or disparage others retained l)y the people. 

ARTICLE X 
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respec- 
tively, or to the people. 

ARTICLE XII 
The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 
one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or 
subjects of any foreign State. 

ARTICLE XU2 
The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be 
an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in 
their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots 
the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct 
lists of all persons voted for as President and of all persons voted for 
as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they 
shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government 
of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate; — The 
president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House 
of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be 
counted ; — The person having the greatest number of votes for Presi- 
dent shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, 
then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three 
on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representa- 
tives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choos- 
ing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation 
from each State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall 
consist of a member or members from two thirds of tlie States, and a 
majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if tl'.e 
House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the 
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of 
March next following, then the Vice President shall act as President, 

1 Adopted in 1798. 2 Adopted in 1804. 



490 APPENDIX II 

as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the 
President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice 
President shall be the Vice President, if such number be a majority of 
the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a ma- 
jority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall 
choose the Vice President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of 
two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the 
whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitu- 
tionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of 
Vice President of the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII 1 

Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris- 
diction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV 2 

Section i. All persons born, or naturalized in the United States, 
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States 
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce 
any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of 
the United States ; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, lib- 
erty, or property, without due process of law ; nor deny to any person 
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several 
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole num- 
ber of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when 
the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President 
and Vice President of the United States, representatives in Congress, 
the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the 
legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such 
State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, 
or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other 
crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the pro- 
portion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole 
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Con- 
gress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, 
civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, hav- 
ing previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer 

1 Adopted in 1865. 2 Adopted in 1868. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 49i 

of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an 
executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of 
the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion 
against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. 
But Congress may by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such 
disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall 
not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State 
shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrec- 
tion or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or 
emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations and claims 
shall be held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropri- 
ate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XVI 

Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XVI 2 
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes 
from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the sev- 
eral States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

ARTICLE XVII 2 

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators 
from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years ; and each 
senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the 
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
State legislatures. 

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in tlie 
Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of elec- 
tion to fill such vacancies : Provided, That the legislature of any State 
may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments 
until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may 
direct. 

This amendment shall not be so construed as to afTect the election or 
term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Con- 
stitution. 

1 Adopted in 1870. 2 Adopted in 1913. 



492 APPENDIX II 

ARTICLE XVIII 1 

Section i. After one year from the ratification of this article the 
manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, t.e 
importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United 
States on all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage 
purposes is hereby prohibited. 

Section 2. The Congress and several States shall have concurrent 
power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

1 Adopted in 1919. 



APPENDIX III 

GENERAL REVIEWS OF THE GREAT SUBJECTS OF 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

In reviewing a subject follow the outlines as far along in the book as 
the class has studied. The figures in parentheses refer to pages. 

I. EUROPEAN BACKGROUND 

1. Life in Europe in the Fifteenth Century (3-7) 

2. Events in Europe Leading to the Discovery of America 

(ia-16) 

3. English background of American Colonization (28) 

4. The Pilgrims in England and Holland (49-50) 

5. English Conditions at the Time of the Puritan Emigration 

(52-53) 

6. Why the Pennsylvania Dutch and the Scotch-Irisli Left 

Europe (85-86) 

7. Of King William's War and Queen Anne's War (93) 

8. Of the French and Indian War ; the Seven Years' War 

(102-103) 

9. English Friends of America (117) 

10. The French Revolution (167-168) 

11. The Industrial Revolution in Europe (183-184) 

12. Of the War of 1812 (197) 

13. The Holy Alliance (222) 

14. Of Immigration in the Forties (253-254) 

15. Of the Civil War (310-31 1) 

16. Expansion of Great Britain, France and Germany (409) 

17. The Great War in Europe (454-467) 

II. DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 

1. The Story of Leif Ericson (12) 

2. The Voyages of the Portuguese (13) 

3. The Great Voyage of Christopher Colurhbus (14-17) 

4. Balboa Discovers the Pacific Ocean (20) 

5. The great voyage of Magellan (20-22) 

6. Spanish Explorations in North America (de Leon, de Soto, 

Coronado), (22-24) 

493 



494 APPENDIX III 

7. Voyages and Discoveries of the English (Cabot, Drake). 

(26-28) 

8. The First Discoveries of the French (26-27) 

9. The Explorations of Champlain (44-46) 

10. The Explorations of Henry Hudson (46-48) 

11. The Discoveries of Marquette and La Salle (91-93) 

12. The Explorations of Daniel Boone (108-110) 

13. The Lewis and Clark Expedition (214-215) 

14. Zebulon Pike (215) 

in. INDIANS AND INDIAN WARS 

1. Why the Natives of the New World Were Called Indians 

(17) 

2. The Occupations of the Indians; their Religion; their Gov- 

ernment; their Manner of Warfare (34-36) 

3. Captain Smith and the Indians (40) 

4. The Iroquois Indians (34, 45, 102) 

5. The Pequot War (56) 

6. Penn and the Indians (70) 

7. Indian Uprisings; King Philip's War (74, 75) 

8. Indians in the Ohio Country; Pontiac's .Conspiracy (107- 

108) 

9. Indians in the Revolution (142-143) 

10. The Battle of Fallen Timbers (175) 

11. Indian Troubles in Indiana and Illinois (206-207) 

12. Indian Troubles in Mississippi and Florida (212-213) 

13. The Removal of the Indians (242) 

14. Indian Reservations; Custer's Defeat (355) 

15. Indian Territory (391) 

16. Dealing Fairly with the Indians (392) 

IV. THE CLAIMS OF DIFFERENT NATIONS AT DIFFER- 
ENT TIMES 

1. The New World Claimed by Spain (24)' 

2. The Claims of Portugal (25) 

3. The Claims of England (26, 94) 

4. The Claims of France (27, 44) 

5. The Claims of the Dutch (47) 

6. The Claims of the Swedes (68) 

7. French Claims in the Mississippi Valley (94) 

8. The Ohio Valley Claimed by Both the French and the Eng- 

lish (95-96) 

9. The Oregon Country Claimed by England and the United 

States (215-216) 



GREAT SUBJECTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 495 

10. A Part of Texas Claimed by Mexico and the United States 
(249) 

V. ENGLISH COLONIZATION 

1. The Beginnings of English Colonization 
(i) The Voyage of Cabot (26) 

(2) England Strengthens Her Navy {2y) 

(3) The Deeds of Sir Francis Drake (27-28) 

(4) The Invincible Armada (28-29) 

(5) England's First Attempts at Colonization (29-31) 

2. The First Permanent English Colony : Virginia (39-42) 

3. The Pilgrims; Plymouth (49-51) 

4. Massachusetts; the Puritans (51-53) 

5. New Hampshire (53-54) 

6. Connecticut; New Haven (55-58) 

7. Rhode Island (58-59) 

8. [Maryland (61-62) 

9. North Carolina ; South Carolina (63-65) 

10. New York (66) 

11. New Jersey (67-68) 

12. Delaware (68) 

13. Pennsylvania (69-72) 

14. Georgia (87) 

VI. FRANCE AND AMERICA 

1. The First French Settlement (44) 

2. Champlain (44-46) 

3. Marquette and La Salle (91-93) 

4. King William's War ; Queen Anne's War (93-94) 

5. French Colonies and Forts in the Mississippi Valley (94) 

6. The French Claim the Ohio Valley (95) 

7. King George's War (94) 

8. The French Capture Fort Duquesne (99-100) 

9. The French and Indian War. (See outline under heading 

Wars, p. 497) (106) 

10. France Assists the Colonies (138) 

11. The United States Neutral as between France and England 

(108) 
12.. The X. Y. Z. Affair (178) 

13. The Louisiana Purchase (188-190) 

14. The French in Mexico (349) 

15. America Repays the Debt to France (458) 

VIL GOVERNMENT 

I. In Europe in the Fifteenth Century (6-7) 



496 APPENDIX III 

2. The First American Legislature (42) 

3. In the New England Colonies (51, 53) 

4. Steps in the Formation of the Union. (See separate head- 

ing, p. 502) 

5. How the Colonies Were Governed in 1700 (83-84) 

6. The State Constitutions (150) 

7. The Articles of Confederation (151-153) 

8. The Constitution (156-161) 

9. The Organization of the National Government under the 

Constitution (163-164) 

10. The Right of Suffrage (184, 22^) 

11. The Initiative and Referendum and Recall (434) 

12. Commission Government for Cities (437) 

13. Equal Suffrage (435) 

VIII. AMERICANISM 

I. Representative Government (42) 

2: Democracy (62) 

3. Religious Freedom (62) 

4. Opposition to Monopoly (iig) 

5. Civil Liberty (160) 

6. Jeffersonian Principles (187) 

7. Support of Public Schools (266) 

8. Opposition to Anarchy (379) "^ 

9. Love of Peace (401 ) 

10. Constitutional Government (156-159, 469) 

11. Americanization of Foreigners (469) 

IX. RELIGION 

1. In Europe in the Fifteenth Century (7) 

2. In the New England Colonies; Puritanism (52) 

3. In Maryland (62) 

4. In Pennsylvania ; the Quakers (69) 

5. In the Colonies About the Year 1700 (82) 

6. The Religious Services of the Jesuits (91) 

7. Religious Freedom (62) 

X. COMMERCE 

1. Trade between Europe and the Orient (4. n) 

2. England Plants Colonies in Order to Increase her Trade 

(38) 

3. The Trade in Furs (44, 81) 

4. The Navigation Laws {"JZ) 

5. Trade with the West Indies {T2, 192) 



GREAT SUBJECTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 497 

6. Power of Congress to Regulate Commerce (158) 

7. Injuries to American Commerce (169, 192, 195) 

8. The Embargo; the Non-Intercourse Act (193, 195) 

9. Influence of the Canals on Commerce (238-239) 

10. Influence of Railroads upon Commerce (291) 

11. Commerce during the Civil War (340) 

12. Progress in Commerce Since the Civil War (368, 421) 

13. Regulation of Interstate Commerce {^^T], 415, 426) 

14. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act (393, 418, 428) 

15. The Federal Trade Commission (444) 

16. The " Open Door " (410) 

(For Tariff, see separate heading.) 

XI. AGRICULTURE 

1. Agriculture in Europe in the Fifteenth Century (3) 

2. Agriculture in the Colonies About 1700 (81) 

3. Agriculture in 1800 (180) 

4. Agriculture in the Middle West in the Earlj- Days (209) 

5. The Reaper and the Iron Plow (261) 

6. Agriculture in the Fifties (291) 

7. Recent Progress in Agriculture (366, 421) 

8. Through irrigation (416) 

9. The Farm Loan Banks (449) 

XIL MANUFACTURING 

1. Manufactures in Europe in the Fifteenth Century (3) 

2. Manufactures in the Colonies in 1700 (81) 

3. The Industrial Revolution (181-184) 

4. After the War of 1812 (224) 

5. Manufacturing in the Forties (261-263) 

6. Manufacturing in the Fifties (291-292) 

7. Manufactures during the Civil War (340) 

8. Manufactures after the Civil War (355, 368, 421) 
(For Tariff, see separate heading.) 

XIIL WARS BEFORE 1789 

1. King William's War (93) 

2. Queen Anne's War (93-94) 

3. King George's War (94) 

4. The French and Indian War 

(i) The first Movement Against Fort Duquesne ; the De- 
feat of General Braddock (99-100) 

(2) The English Plan of Campaign (103) 

(3) The Second Movement Against Fort Duquesne (104) 



498 APPENDIX III 

(4) Fort Niagara; Quebec (104-105) 

(5) The Result of the War; the Treaty of 1763 (105-106) 
5. The War of the Revolution 

(i) The Events Leading Up to the War of the Revolution 

a. The Quarrel about Taxation (114-115) 

b. The Stamp Act and the Stamp Act Congress (115- 

117) 

c. The Townshend Acts (117) 

d. The Colonist and the Tax on Tea (i 18-1 19) 

e. The "Intolerable Acts" (119) 

f. The Colonies Stand Together (120-121) 

g. The First Continental Congress (122) 

h. The Fighting at Lexington and Concord (123-124) 

i. Ticonderoga and Crown Point (124) 

j. Tlie Second Continental Congress (124-125) 

k. Bunker Hill (125-126) 

1. The British Withdravi^ from Boston (128) 

m. The Declaration of Independence (128-130) 

(2) The Leading Events and Battles of the Revolution 

a. The British Plan of Campaign (131) 

b. Long Island; the Tories (131-133) 

c. Fort Washington and Fort Lee (133) 

d. Trenton and Princeton (133-134) 

e. The Capture of Philadelphia (134) 

f. Saratoga ; the French Alliance ( 135-139) 

g. Washington at Valley Forge (140) 
h. Monmouth (140-141) 

i. War on the Frontier (141-143) 
j. Naval Warfare; John Paul Jones (143) 
k. War at the South ; Camden ; King's Mountain ; 
Yorktown (143-146) 

(3) The Result of the War; the Treaty of 1783 (147) 

XIV. WARS SINCE 1789 

1. The War with Tripoli (190-191) 

2. The War of 1812 

(i) Events Leading up to the War of 1812 

a. The Unfriendly Conduct of England and France 

(192-195) 

b. The Embargo; the Non-Intercourse Act (193) 

c. Drifting toward War (195-196) 

d. The Declaration of War (196) 

(2) The European Background of the War of 1812 (197) 

(3) The Battles of the War of 1812 



GREAT SUBJECTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 499 

a. The Attack upon Canada (197-198) 

b. The Struggle upon the Sea and upon the Great 

Lakes (198-199) 

c. Chippewa and Lundy's Lane (199) 

d. The War Along the Atlantic Coast (200) 

e. The Battle of New Orleans (201) 

(4) The Results of War; the Treaty of Ghent (202-203) 

3. The Mexican War 

(i) The Disputed Territory (249) 

(2) Monterey; Buena Vista; Vera Cruz; Molino del Rey ; 

the City of Mexico (250) 

(3) The Capture of New Mexico and California (251) 

(4) The Results of the War; the Treaty of Guadalupe 

Hidalgo (252) 

4. The Civil War 

(i) Events Leading Up to the Civil War 

a. A House Divided Against Itself (297) 

b. Attempts at Compromise (299) 

c. The First Secession of Seven States (300) 

d. The Star of the West Afifair (301) 

e. The Firmness of Lincoln (301) 

f. The Firing upon Fort Sumter (302) 

g. The Second Secession of Four States (304) 

(2) The Leading Events and Battles of the Civil War 

a. The Call for Troops (304) 

b. The Strength of the North and the South compared 

(305) 

c. The First Clashes (306-308) 

d. The First Battle of Bull Run (308) 

e. McClellan Organizes the Army of the Potomac 

(308) 

f. The Blockade (310) 

g. The Capture of Mason and Slidell ; European Back- 

ground (310-31 i) 
h. The Plan of Campaign of the Union Forces (313) 
i. Fort Donelson and Fort McHenry ; Shiloh (313- 

316) 
j. Bragg's Raid; Murfreesboro (316) 
k. The Opening of the Mississippi (317-318) 
1. The Mcrrimac and the Monitor (319) 
m. McClellan's Peninsular Campaign (320) 
n. The Second Battle of Manassas ; Antietam ; Fred- 
ericksburg (322) 
o. The Emancipation Proclamation (323) 
p. The Battle of Chancellorsville (323-324) 



5CX) APPENDIX III 

q. Naval Warfare; the Blockade; the Alabama (325- 

326) 
r. The Battle of Gettysburg (327) 
s. The Fall of Vicksburg (328) 
t. Chickamauga and Chattanooga (328-329) 
,u. Sherman's Capture of Atlanta and March to the 

Sea (330-331) 
V. Grant's Campaign against Lee (331-333) 
w. The Surrender of Lee at Appomattox (33s) 
(3) War-Times North and South 

a. The Cost of the War (336) 

b. How the Expenses of the War Were Met (336- 

338) 

c. Keeping the Ranks Filled (338) 

d. Women in the Civil War (338-339) 

e. Industry During the Civil War (339) 

f. Western Affairs during the War (340) 

g. Politics in War times (341-342) 

5. The Spanish-American War 

(i) Relations between the United States and Cuba (404) 

(2) The Destruction of the Maine (405) 

(3) Manila (406) 

(4) Santiago (406-407) 

(5) Results of the War (407-408) 

6. The War with Germany 

(i) The sinking of the Lusitania (447-478) 

(2) Renewed Attacks by Submarines (454-455) 

(3) The Call to Arms (455-457) 

(4) Throwing the Strength of the Nation Against the 

Foe (457-459) 

(5) Helping Uncle Sam (460) 

(6) Training the Soldiers (460) 

(7) Timely Aid to the Allies (462) 

(8) Americans Help to Carry Allies to Victory (463) 

(9) The Armistice (465) 

(10) The Peace Conference (471) 

XV. TREATIES 

1. Utrecht (94) 

2. Aix-la-Chapelle (95) 

3. Paris (1763), (105-106) 

4. Alliance with France (138-139) 

5. Paris (1783), (147) 

6. Jay's Treaty (169) 



GREAT SUBJECTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 501 

7. The Tripolitan Treaty (191) 

8. Ghent (202) 

9. The Treaty with Spain (1819), (213) 

10. The Webster- Ashburton Treaty (245) 

11. The Oregon Treaty (248) 

12. Guadalupe Hidalgo (251) 

13. The Treaty of Washington in 1871 (325) 

14. The Treaty with Spain (1899), (407) 

15. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (414) 

16. The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (414) 

17. The Treaty of 19 — (000) 

XVI. THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT 

1. The Settlement of the Connecticut Valley (56) 

2. The Frontier Line in 1700 (78) 

3. The Settlement of the Shenandoah Valley (89) 

4. Kentucky; Tennessee (108-110, 172) 

5. The Beginnings of Ohio (i73-i75) 

6. The Frontier Line in 1800 (176) 

7. The National Road; the Steamboat (205-206) 

8. Indiana; Illinois (206-208) 

9. Life in the Middle West in the Early Days (209) 

10. Across the Mississippi (214-216) 

11. The Extension of the National Road (236) 

12. Canals and Railroads (238-240) 

13. Michigan; Arkansas (241-242) 

14. -Western Development between 1820 and 1840 (243) 

15. Cheaper Lands; Immigration (253) 

16. Along the Upper Mississippi and around the Great Lakes 

(254) 

17. Oregon; California (255-258) 

18. Utah; New Mexico (259-260) 

19. The Western Movement in the Fifties (289-291) 

20. Western Affairs during the Civil War (340) 

21. Railroads and Development of the Far West (353-355) 

22. The New Northwest (389-391) 

23. The New Southwest (391-392) 

24. The Last Events of the Westward Movement (429) 

XVIL EXPANSION SINCE 1789 

1. The Louisiana Purchase (188-190) 

2. The Florida Purchase (213) 

3. The Annexation of Texas (246-247) 

4. Acquisition of Oregon (248) 



502 APPENDIX III 

5. The Mexican Cession (252) 

6. The Gadsden Purchase (291) 

7. The Purchase of Alaska (349) 

8. The Acquisition of the Philippine Islands and of Porto 

Rico (407) 

9. The Annexation of Hawaii (408) 

10. The Panama Canal Strip (414) 

11. The Virgin Islands (451) 

XVIII. STEPS IN THE FORMATION OF THE UNION 

1. The New England Confederation (59) 

2. The Albany Congress (100) 

3. The Stamp Act Congress ( 1 16) 

4. The First Continental Congress (122) 

5. The Second Continental Congress (125) 

6. The Declaration of Independence (128-130) 

7. The Articles of Confederation ( 151-153) 

8. The Formation of the Constitution (156-159) 

XIX. THE PRESIDENTS: THEIR ELECTION AND INAU- 
GURATION 

1. George Washington, 1789-1797 (163) 

2. John Adams, 1797-1801 ( 178) 

3. Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809 (187) 

4. James Madison, 1809-1817 (193) 

5. James Monroe, 1817-1825 (218) 

-6rJohn Quincy Adams, 1825-1829 (223) " - 

7. Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837 (228) 

8. Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841 (233) 

9. William H. Harrison, March 4, 1841, to April 4, 1841 

(235-245) 
ID. John Tyler.i April 4, 1841, to March 4, 1845 (245) 

11. James K. Polk, 1845-1849 (247) 

12. Zachary Taylor, March 4, 1849, to July 9, 1850 (271) 

13. Millard Fillmore,^ July 9, 1850, to March 4, 1853 (271, 277) 

14. Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857 (280) 

15. James Buchanan, 1857-1861 (284) 

16. Abraham Lincoln, 1861-April 15, 1865 (287, 301) 

17. Andrew Johnson, 1 April 15, 1865, to March 4, 1869 (344) 

18. Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877 (350) 

19. Rutherford B. Hayes, 1877-1881 (360) 

20. James A. Garfield, March 4, 1881, to September 19, 1881 

(363) 

1 Raised to the Presidency from the Vice-Presidency. 



GREAT SUBJECTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 503 

21. Chester A. Arthur,^ September 19, 1881, to March 4, 1885 

(363) 

22. Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 (3,7?,) 

23. Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893 C380) -^ 
22. Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897 (396) 

24. William McKinley, March 4, i897, to September 14, 190 1 

(402, 412) 

25. Theodore Roosevelt.i September 14, 1901, to March 4, 190Q 

(415) 

26. William H. Taft, 1909-1913 (418) 

27. Woodrow Wilson, 1913- U29, 452) 

XX. SLAVERY 

1. Serfs (5) 

2. The Beginnings of Slavery in Virgmia (42) 

3. Slavery in the Colonies in 1700 (78) 

4. Slavery and the Ordinance of 1787 (174) 

5. Slavery in 1800; the Cotton-gin (181) 

6. The Missouri Compromise (219-220) 

7. The Abolition Movement (268) 

8. Slavery and the Abolitionists (275) 

9. The Wilmot Proviso (276) 

10. Slavery in the United States in 1850 (272-274) 

11. The Compromise of 1850 (276) 

12. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 (278) 

13. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill (281) 

14. The Struggle in Kansas Over Slavery (282) 

15. The Rise of the Republican Party (283) 

16. The Dred Scott Decision (284) 

17. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (284) 

18. John Brown's Raid (285) 

19. The Presidential Election of i860 (286) 

20. A House Divided Against Itself (297) 

21. Attempts at Compromise (299) 

22. The Emancipation Proclamation (323) 

23. The Thirteenth Amendment (346) 

24. The Fourteenth Amendment (346) 

25. The Fifteenth Amendment (347) 

XXI. NULLIFICATION AND SECESSION 

1. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (179) 

2. The Hartford Convention (201) 

3. South Carolina Opposes the Tariff of Abominations (226) 

1 Raised to the Tresidency from the Vice-Presidency. 



504 APPENDIX III 

4. The Debate of Hayne and Webster (229-231) 

5. South Carolina begins a Nullification Movement (231-232) 

6. Jackson and Nullification (232) 

7. Secession of Seven Southern States (first secession) (300) 

8. The Second Secession (304) 

9. The Readmission of the Seceding States (347) 

XXII. EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 

1. Education in Europe in the Fifteenth Century (7) 

2. Education in the Colonies in 1700 (82) 

3. Education in the United States in i8co (184) 

4. Progress in Education (265) 

5. Progress in Education and Literature in the Eighties (369- 

370) 

6. Twentieth-Century Progress in Education (431-433) 

XXIIL THE TARIFF 

1. The First Tariff (165) 

2. The Tariff of 1816: Protection (224) 

3. The "Tariff of Abominations" (225) 

4. The Tariff of 1832 (231) 

5. The Compromise Tariff (232) 

6. The Morrill Tariff (337) 

7. The McKinley Tariff (394) 

8. The Wilson Tariff (399) 

9. The Dingley Tariff (403) 

10. The Payne Tariff (426) 

11. The Underwood Tariff (442) 

XXIV. MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 

1. Travel in Europe in the Fifteenth Century (4) 

2. Indian Trails (32) 

3. Roads in 1700 (78) 

4. The National Road (205) 

5. Steamboat Navigation (206) 

6. The Extension of the National Road (236) 

7. The Erie Canal ; The Pennsylvania Canal (237-239) 

8. Early Railroads (239) 

9. The Oregon and Santa Fe Trails (257) 

10. The Trunk Lines (288) 

11. The Pony Express (289) 

12. The Union Pacific: the Northern Pacific (353-355) 

13. Improvements in Railroad Matters (366, 422) 

14. Trolley-Cars (366) 



GREAT SUBJECTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 505 

15. The Panama Canal (414) 

16. Flying-Machines (424) 

XXV. BANKS AND CURRENCY 

r. The First Bank of the United States (166) 

2. The Second Bank of the United States (232) 

3. National Banks (337) 

4. Greenbacks (337) 

5. The Silver Purchase Act (395) 

6. The Repeal of the Purchasing Clause of the Silver Pur-- 

chase Act (398) 

7. The Income Tax (399, 440) 

8. The Free Silver (402, 411) 

9. The Federal Reserve Banks (443) 
ID. Farm Loan Banks, (449) 

XXVI. INVENTIONS 

1. In Europe in the Fifteenth Century (4) 

2. The Cotton-Gin (181) 

3. The Steam-Engine ; the Power-Loom ; the Spinning-Ma- 

chine (183) 

4. The Reaper (261, 366) 

5. The Plow (261, 366) 

6. The Telegraph (263. 294, 426) 

7. The Sewing-machine (261) 

8. The Telephone (367) 

9. Electrical Inventions (366-367, 422) 

10. The Automobile (424) 

11. The Flying-Machine (425-426) 

XXVII. FOREIGN RELATIONS SINCE 1789 

(For Treaties see separate heading) 

1. The United States Neutral as to England and France (168) 

2. President John Adams and the Trouble with France (178) 

3. The Louisiana Question (188-190) 

4. The Unfriendly Conduct of England and France (192) 

5. England and France Continue to Harrass American Com- 

merce (19s) 

6. The Claims to the Oregon Country (215, 248) 

7. The Monroe Doctrine (221-223) 

8. The Texas Question (246-247) 

9. The Quarrel with Mexico about the Boundaries of Texas 

(249) 



5o6 APPENDIX III 

10. The Capture of Mason and Slidell (310) 

11. The French in Mexico (349) 

12. The Purchase of Alaska (350) 

13. The Venezuela Boundary Dispute (400) 

14. Cuba and the United States (404) 

15. Taking a Hand in the Affairs of the Far East (409) 

16. " Watchful Waiting " (446) 

17. Germany (446-449) 



APPENDIX IV 

READING LIST 

Below is a list of books to which reference is made at the end of 
the chapters. The figures in parentheses at the end of a title indi- 
cates the number of times the book is referred to, and therefore indi- 
cates its relative usefulness in connection with the text. 

The key to the publishers is as follows : 

A. rr American Book Co., New York Long. r= Longmans, Green & Co., New 

Ap. — D. Appleton & Co., New York York 

C. = Century Co., New York M. — Macmillan Co., New York 

Cro. = Thomas Y. Crowell, New York Mo. = Moffat, Yard & Co., New York 

G. = Ginn & Co., Boston P. = G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York 

Har. = Harper & Bros., New York Sc. = Charles Scribner's Sons, New 

Hou. — Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston York 

Lit. = Little, Brown, & Co., Boston Sil. = Silver Burdett & Co., New 

York 

1. Bogart, E. L. Economic History of the United States. Long (8) 

2. Brigham, A. P. From Trail to Railway. G. (3) 

3. Brooks, Elbridge S. Historic Americans. Cro. (5) 

4. Bruce, H. Addington. The Romance of American Expansion. 

Mo. (6) 

5. Century Readings in United States History. (In six small vol- 

umes. C. 

Explorers and Settlers (16) 

The Colonists and the Revolution (11) 

A New Nation (12) 

The Westward Movement (3) 

The Civil War (13) 

The Progress of the United People (10) 

6. Chandler, J. R. C. and Chitwood, O. P. Makers of American 

History. Sil. (6) 

7. Coe, Fanny E. Makers of the Nation. A. (9) 

8. Dewey, D. R. National Problems. Har. (3) 

9. Eggleston, Edward. The History of the United States and Its 

People. Ap. (26) 

10. Faris, John T. Makers of Our History. G. (15) 

11. Forman, S. E. Stories of Useful Inventions. C. (9) 

12. Hart, A. B. Source-Book of American History. M. (22) 

13. Hitchcock, Ripley. Decisive Battles of America. H. (12) 

14. Hotchkiss, Caroline W^. Representative Cities of the United States. 

Hou. (8) 

507 



5o8 APPENDIX IV 

15. Lane, A. A. and Mabel Hill. American History in Literature. 

G. (9) 

16. Lawler, T. B. The Story of Columbus and Magellan. G. (4) 

17. McLaughlin, A. C. Readings in the History of the American Na- 

tion. Ap. (14) 

18. Ogg, F. A. National Progress. Har. (6) 

19. Parkman, Francis. The Struggle for a Continent; edited from the 

writings of Parkman by Edgar Pelham. Lit. (11) 

20. Roosevelt, Theodore, and Others. Stories of the Republic. P. (2) 

21. Schafer, Joseph. History of the Pacific Northwest. M. (4) 

22. Whitney, Edson L. and Perry, Frances M. Four American In- 

dians. A. (2) 



INDEX 



Abolition of slavery, j68, 275, 298, 34-', 

346 
Acadia, 103 
Adams, John: 

and the treaty of 1783, 147 

sketch of life, 179 

President, 178-180 
Adams, John Quincy: 

sketch of life, 225 

and Russia, 221 

President, 223-225 

his character, 224 

his views in respect to Cuba, 404 

dies on the same day with Jefferson, 
179 
Adams, Samuel, 117, 121, 125, 159 
Adolphus, Gustavus, 68 
Africa, colonizing in, 409 
Agriculture, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, p. 497 
Aguinaldo, 408 
Air, conquest of, 424 
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 94 
Alabama: 

explored by De Soto, 23 

admitted to the Union, 213 

Indians in, 242 

secedes from the Union, 300 

carpet-bag rule in, 358 
Alabama, the 325 
Alaska, 221, 349 
Albany, 47, 100, 131, 238 
Albany Congress, 100 
Albemarle, 63 

Alien and Sedition Laws, 179 
Alien Contract Labor Law, 369 
Allen, Ethan, 124 
Allies in the war with Germany, 457, 

462-465 _ 
Alsace-Lorraine, 409, 471 
Amendments to the Constitution, :6o, 

346, 347. 435, 468 
America: 

discovery of, 18 

origin of name, 19 
American Federation of Labor, 386-387 
Americanism, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, p. 496 
Americanization, 469 
American literature, 266, 370 
Americus \'espucius, 18 
Amherst, General, 104 
Amiens, 463 
Amnesty and pardon after Civil War, 

345-351 
Anarchy, 378-379 
Anderson, Robert, 301, 302 
Andre, Major, 145 

509 



Andros, Edmund, 76, 77 
Animals of North America, 33 
Anthracite coal strike, 413 
Antietam, battle, 322 
Anti-Trust Law, 393, 418, 428 
Appomattox Court-House, 333 
Argonne Forest, 464 
Arizona: 

part of the Gadsden Purchase, 291 

made a Territory, 341 

development of, 391 

made a State of, 429 
Arkansas: 

carved out of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, 190 

admitted to the Union, 243 

secedes from the Union, 304 
Arkwright, Richard, 183 
Armed Ship Bill, 454 
Armistice, 465 
Army, National, 459 
Army of the Potomac, 309 
Arnold, Benedict, 124, 137, 145 
Arthur, Chester A., 363, 373 
Articles of Confederation, 151-154, 160 
Ashburton treaty, 245 
Assassination : 

of Lincoln, 343 

of Garfield, 363 

of McKinley, 412 
Assistance, Writs of, 115 
Astrolabe, 10 

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rail- 
road, 391 
Atlanta, 330, 331, 444 
Austria, 447, 465 
Automobiles, 424, 449 



B 



Bacon's Rebellion, 74 

Balboa, 20 

Baltimore, Lord, 61 

Baltimore: 

its rank in 1800, 180 
attacked by the British, 200 
desires the Western trade, 239 
begins a great railroad, 241 
in i860, 292; in 1890, 370 
Northern troops attacked in, 306 

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 241 

Banks: 

of the United States, 166, 232, 245 
National 337 

Postal Savings Banks, 428 
Federal Reserve Banks, 443-444 
Farm Loan Banks, 449 

Baptists, 82 

Baton Rouge, 318 



510 



INDEX 



Battles, see names of battles as 

Antietam, Bunker Hill, etc. 
Bean, William, iio 
Beauregard, General, 302, 308, 316 
Belgium, 447 

Bell, Alexander Graham, 367 
Bell, John, 286 
Bennington, battle, 136 
Benson, Allan, L., 452 
Berkeley, William, 73-75 
" Bible Commonwealth," 58 
Bienville, 94 

" Big Business," 382-385, 393, 429 
Birds of North America, 33 
Bismark, (North Dakota), 355 
Bladensburg, battle, 200 
Blaine, James G., 373 
Bland-Allison Act, 395 
Blockade, in the Civil War, 310, 313. 

325, 340 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 168, 178, i97, 201, 

222 
Boone, Daniel, 109, no 
Boonesborough, no 
Boston: 

beginnings of, 52 

opposes Stamp Act, 116 

massacre in, 118 

resists tax on tea, :i9 

British soldiers in, 122 

during the Revolution, 125-128 

in 1800, 180; in i860, 292; in 1890, 
370 

great fire in, 356 
Boulder (Colorado), 290 
Bowling Green (Kentucky), 313 
Boxer Rebellion, 410 
Boy Scouts, 439 
Braddock, General, loi 
Bradford, William, 50 
Bragg, General, 3'6, 317. 328, 329, 

330 
Brandywine, battle, 13S 
Brazil, 18, 25 
Breckenridge, John C, 286 
Breed's Hill, 126 note 
Brewster, William, 50 
Brock, General, 198 
Brooklyn Heights, battle, 131 
Brown, General, 200 
Brown, John, 283, 285 
Brush, Charles F., 366 
Bryan, William Jennings, 402, 412, 419 
Bryant, William Cullen, 266, 269 
Buchanan, James, 284, 285, 301 
Buell, General, 315, ^■^7 
Buena Vista, 250 
Buffalo, 238, 239, 370, 412 
Buffaloes, 34, 258 
Bulgaria, 465 

Bull Run, battles, 308, 322 
Bunker Hill, 126 
Burgoyne, (General, i35-'38 
Burnside, General, 323 



Cabinet, the first, 164 
Cable, Atlantic, 295 
Cabot, John, 26 



Calhoun, John C: 

and the War of 1812, 197 

candidate for President, 223 

and the Compromise of 1850, 276 

sketch of life, 276 
California: 

visited by Drake, 28 

Russians in, 221 

Polk and, 248 

ceded to the United States, 252 

discovery of gold in, 256-258 

becomes a State, 258, 278 

its growth, 291 

rule of the people in, 434, 435 
Calvert, Cecil, 61 
Calvert, George, 61 
Calvert, Leonard, 61 
Camden, battle, 144 
Canada, 44, 104, 198, 275 
Canals: 

the Erie, 237-239 

the Pennsylvania. 239 

the Sault Ste. Marie, 289 

the Panama, 414-415 
Cantonments, 461 

Capital, the National, 134, 163, 166, 187 
Captains of Industry and Labor, 382- 

388 
Carleton, General, 131, 136 
Carlisle (Pennsylvania), 327 
Carnegie, Andrew, 387, 433, 438 
Carolinas, the, 63-65 
Carpet-baggers, 357-358 
Carranza, 446 
Carroll, Charles, 239 
Carteret, George, 67 
Carteret, Philip, 67 
Cartier, Jacques, 27, 44 
Cass, Lewis, 271 
Catholics, 7, 61, 82, 91 
Catt, Carrie Chapman, 435 
Census, 180 

Centennial Exposition, 359 
Center of population, 243 
Cerro Gordo, battle, 250 
Cervera, Admiral, 406, 407 
Chadds Ford, battle, 135 
Chambersburg, (Pennsylvania), 327, 

332 
Champlain, Samuel, 44-46 
Champoeg (Oregon), 255 
Chancellorsville, battle, 324 
Chapultepec, battle, 250 
Charles I, 52, 73 
Charles II, 59, 63, 66, 70 
Cliarleston, 63, 64, 180, 225, 301, 302 
Chateau-Thierry, 463 
Chattanooga, battle, 328-329 
Chautauqua circles, 433 
Cherokees, 242 
Cherry Valley, battle, 143 
Chesapeake, the, 192 
Chester (Pennsylvania), 71 
Cheyenne (Wyoming), 354 
Chicago: 

Fort Dearborn original site of, 207 

growth of, 293, 370 

during the Civil War, 339 

great fire in, 356 

World's Fair held in, 397 



INDEX 



511 



Chicago — Continued : 

disturbances in, 378, 400 
the flow of money to, 443 
Chickamauga, battle, ^329 
Chickasaw Indians, 242 
Child Labor, 263, 386, 437 
Chilicothe (Ohio), 176, 204 
China, 4, 410 
Chippewa, battle, 200 
Choctaw Indians, 242 
Church of England, 52, 82 
Cibola, Cities of, 24 
Cincinnati, 175, 292, 370 
Cities: 

in 1800, 180 

in i860, 292-294 

in 1890, 370 

in 1910, 437 

reforms in government of, 437-438 
Civil Rights Bill, 346 
Civil Service Commission, 364 
Civil War: 

beginnings of, 297-307 

principal events of, 308-334 

war times. North and South, 336—343 

(For a full analysis of the (Tivil War 
see Reviews of Great Subjects, 499) 
Claiborne, William, 211 
Clark, George Rogers, 143 
Clark, William, 214 
Clay, Henry: 

favors the War of :8i2, 197 

candidate for President, 223, 233 

Secretary of State, 224 

offers a compromise tariff, 232 

tries to reestablish the bank, 245 

and the Compromise of 1850, 277 
Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 414 
Clayton Law, 445 
Clemens, Samuel, L., 370, 371 
Clermont, the, 206 

Cleveland (city), 176, 293, 370, 444 
Cleveland. Grover: 

sketch of life, 373 

first administration, 374-379 

second administration, 397-401 
Clinton, De Witt, 238 
Clinton, Sir Henry, 141, 144 
Coal strike, 413 
Cockburn, Admiral, 200 
Cold Harbor, battle, 332 
Colleges and Universities, 82, 184, 265 

369 
Colonies, English: 

first attempt to plant, 29-31 

location of, 39 

life in, in 1700, 78—84 

growth of between 1700 and 1750, 
85-90 

quarrel with the mother country, 114- 
121 

declare their independence, 122-130 

struggle for independence, 131-147 
Colorado: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, 
190 

explored by Pike, 215 

its early settlement, 290 

becomes a State, 354 

rule of the people in, 434, 435 



Columbia, District of, 278 
Columbia River, 215 
Columbus (Kentucky), 313, 317 
Columbus, Christopher, 14-19 
Commerce, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, 496 
Commission government of cities, 437- 

438 
" Common Sense " by Thomas Paine, 

128 
Community Centers, 440 
Compass, the, 10 
Compromises: 

jNIissouri, 219-221 

tariff of 1832, 232 

of 1850, 276-278 

Crittenden, 299 
Comstock mine, 291 
Concord, battle, 123 
Confederate States of America, 300, 

302, 304-306 
Confederation, Articles of, 151-154, 160 
Congregational Church, 83 
Congresses: 

Albany, i oa 

Stamp Act, 116 

First Continental, 122 

Second Continental, 124-125 

under the Articles of Confederation, 
151-154 

under the Constitution, 157 
Connecticut: 

settlement of, 55-58 
• joins New England Confederation, 59 

refuses to surrender charter, 76 

population of in 1700, 79 

sends delegates to Stamp Act Con- 
gress, 116 

did not form a new constitution, 150 

secures a slice of the Northwest Ter- 
ritory, 154 

opposed to the War of 1812, 197 
Conscription, 338, 459 
Conservation, 416-418 
Constitution, the, 198 
Constitution, the first written, 57 
Constitution of the LInited States: 

its formation, 156-159 

ratification of, 159 

amendments to, 160, 346, 347, 435, 
468 
Constitutional government, 469 
Constitutional Union Party, 286 
Constitutions, State, 150 
Cooper, James Fenimore, 266, 267 
Cooper, Peter, 241 
" Copperheads," 342 
Corinth (Miss.), 315, 316 
Corn, 3, 181, 208, 291, 421 
Cornwallis, General, 134, 144, 146 
Coronado. 23 
Corporations, 381-385 
Correspondence Schools, 433 
Cortes, Hernando, 22 
Corydon (Indiana), 207 
Cotton, 181, 212, 214, 220, 242, 291, 

365. 421 
Cotton-gin, the, 181. 214 
Council of National Defense, 460 
Cowpens, battle, 146 



512 



INDEX 



Coxey's Army, 400 
Crawford, William, 223 
Creeks, the, 213, 242 
Crittenden Compromise, 299 
Cromwell, Oliver, 73 
Crown Point, 103, 124 
Cuba, 17. 404-408 
Cumberland (Maryland), loi, 205 
Cumberland Gap, 109, 313 
Currency, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, 50s 
Custer, General George, 355 



D 



Da Gama, Vasco, 13 
Dakota, 289, 389 
Dale, Thomas, 41 
Dallas (Georgia), battle, 330 
Dallas (Texas), 391, 444 
Dalton, battle, 330 
Dare, Virginia, 30 
Davenport, John, 57 
Davis, Jefferson: • 

sketch of life, 299 

President of the Confederate. States, 
300 

demands the surrender of Sumter, 302 

his capture, 334 

as an administrator, 341 
Dayton (Ohio), 175, 293 
Dawes Bill, the, 392 
Dearborn, Fort, 207 
Debs, Eugene V., 41S. 4i9. 430 
Debt, national, 337 

Declaration of Independence, 128-130 
Deerfield (Massachusetts), 93 
De Grasse, Count, 146 
De Kalb, General, 144 
Delaware: 

claimed by the Swedes and the Dutch, 
68 

transferred to the Duke of York, 69 

so'd to William Penn, 71 

sends delegates to the Stamp Act 
Congress, 116 

remains in the Union, 304 
Delawarr, 41 
De Leon, 23 
Democracy, 59, 227, 434 
Democratic Party, 1O7, 187. 287, 373> 

430 
Denver, 290, 354 
De Soto, ^3 

Detroit, 143, 169, 198, 241, 293, 370 
Dewey, Admiral, 406 
Dias, Bartholomew, 13 
Dingley Tariff, 403 
Dinwiddle, Robert, 99 
District of Columbia, 277, 278 
Donelson, Fort. 313 
Dorchester Heights, 127 
Douglas, Stephen A., 281, 284, 286, 287 
Dover (New Hampshire), 54 
Draft, 338, 459 
I^rake, Sir Francis, 27, 28 
Dred Scott Decision, 284, 298 
Drummond, William, 63 
Duluth, 354 



Duquesne, Fort, 100, 104 
Dutch, the, 46-48, 49, 66-68 



"E 



Early, General, 332 

Earth, notions about, 11, 12 

East India Company, 39, 119 

Eaton, Theophilus, 57 

Edict of Nantes, 64 

Edison, Thomas, 367 

Education, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, 504 

El Caney, 407 

Electoral Commission, 360 

Electoral Count Act, 375 

Electricity, 185, 366-367, 422 

Elizabeth, Queen, 29 

Elizabethtown (New Jersey), 67 

Ellsworth, Oliver, 156 

Elmira (New York), 143 

Emancipation Proclamation, 323 

Embargo Act, 193, 224 

Employer's Liability Laws, 436 

Endicott, John, 51 

England: 

government in the fifteenth century, 

6-7 
claims part of the New World, 26 
strengthens her navy, 27 
destroys the Spanish Armada, 28 
undertakes to plant colonies, 29 
why she planted colonies, 38 
her colonies along the Atlantic Coast, 

39 
at the time of the Puritan migration, 

52 
takes possession of New Netherland, 

66 
a second, along the Atlantic Coast, 84 
English and French colonial systems, 

96 
drives France from America, 105 
and her colonies quarrel, 114-121 
revolt of her colonies, 122-147 
loses her colonies, 147 
her contest with Napoleon, 168, 197 
unfriendly conduct of, 169, 192, 195 
and the War of 1812, 198-202 
her claims to Oregon, 215, 248 
supports the Monroe Doctrine, 223 
her policy during the Civil War, 310- 

and the Venezuelan inci-dent, 400 
her policy of expansion, 409 
at war with Germany, 447 

Episcopal Church, 52, 82 

" Era of Good Feeling," 218-219 

Ericson, Leif, 12 

Erie Canal, 237-239 

Erie (Pennsylvania), 96 

Erskine, British minister, 195 

European background, see Reviews of 
Great Subjects, 493 

Expansion, table showing, 251; see also 
General Reviews, 501 

Expansion, era of, 409 

Expositions, 359, 365, 397, 415 

Express companies, 295 



INDEX 



513 



Factory system, 181-184, 261-263, 291, 

36s 
Fair Oaks, 320 
Fairs, 4 

Fallen Timbers, battle, 175 
Farm Loan Banks, 449 
Farming, see Agriculture 
Farragut, Admiral, 317-318 
Federal Aid Road Act, 449 
Federal Eight Hour Act, 450 
Federal Reserve Act, 443-444 
Federal Trade Commission, 445 
Federalist Party, 167, 179, 201 
Field, Cyrus W., 294 note 
Filipinos, 408 

Fillmore, Millard, 271, 277 
Fires, great, 356 
Fishing, 53. 81, 147, 216 
Fitch, John, 205 
Flag, the American, 144 
Florida: 

discovered by De Leon, 23 

French settlement in, 27 

given to England, 106 

given back to Spain, 147 

purchased from Spain, 213 

admitted to the Union, 214 

secedes from the Union, 300 
Flying-machines, 424-425 
Foch, General, 463, 464 
Foote, Commodore, 313, 317 
Forbes, General, 104 
Foreign relations, sec Reviews of Great 

Subjects, 505 
Forests, 32, 416-417 
Forks of the Ohio, 99 
Forts, see names, as Fort Dearborn, 

Fort Donelson, etc. 
France: 

claims part of the New World, 26-27 

gains possession of the St. Lawrence 
region, 44-46 

gains possession of the Mississippi 
Valley, 91-93 

wages war with England, 93-95 

claims the Ohio Valley, 95-96 

her colonial system compared with 
that of England, 96-97 

struggles with England for the pos- 
session of America, 99—105 

makes a treaty of alliance with the 
United States, 138-139 

Revolution in, :67-i68 

her long struggle with England, 168, 
192, 195, 197 

desires tiie support of the United 
States, 168 

her unfriendly conduct toward the 
United States, 178, 192 

sells Louisiana to the United States, 
189 

during the Civil War, 3 10-3 11 

in Mexico, 349 

and her policy of expansion, 409 

and the war with Germany, 447 
Franklin, the State of, 172 
Franklin, Benjamin: 

and the Albany Congress, loo-ioi 



Franklin — Continued: 

in the Second Continental Congress, 

I2S 

his services in France, 138 

helps to carry through the treaty of 
1783, 147 

in the Constitutional Convention, 156, 
159. 
Fredericksburg, battle, 323 
Freedmen's Bureau, 346, 348 
Freedom of speech and of the press, 

1 60-161, 188 
Free-Soil party, 271 
Fremont, John C, 251, 284 
French, the, sec France 
French and Indian War, 103-106 
Friends, Society of, 69, 82 
Frontenac, governor of Canada, 93 
Frontier Line: 

what is meant by, 78 

in 1700, 78 

in 1750, 90 

in 1800, 176 

in 1820, 217 

in 1840, 243 
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, 278-279, 

280 
Fulton, Robert, 206 
Fur trade, 39, 44, 46, 74, 81, 215 



Gadsden Purchase, 291 note 

Gage, General, 122, 123 

Galveston (Texas), 391 

Gama, V'asco da, 13 

Garfield, H. A., 460 

Garfield, James A., 362-363 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 268, 346 

Gas, 185, 295 

Gates, General, 137, 140, 144 

General Court, 53, 83 

Genet, French Minister, 168 

Geneva Award, 326 

Genoa, 14 

George III, 107, 114, 118, 128 

Georgia: 

settlement of, 87 
becomes a royal colony, 89 
during the Revolution, 144 
secedes from the Union, 300 
during the Civil War, 330-331 

Germans, 85, 254, 353 

Germantown, battle, 135 

Germany, 254, 409, 446-448, 454-458, 
461-466 

Gerry, Elbridge, 156 

Gettysburg, battle, 327-328 

Ghent, treaty of, 202 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 29 

Gold, 23, 256-258, 290, 341, 402, 411 

Gompers, Samuel, 388, 460 

Gorges, Ferdinando, 54 

Government, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, 495 

Governors, conference of, 417 

Grangers, 357 

Grant, General U. S.: 

his life up to i860, 314-315 
captures Fort Donelson, 314 



514 



INDEX 



Grant, Gen. U. S. — Continued : 

at Shiloh, 315 

at Vicksburg, 328 

at Chattanooga, 329 

in command of all the armies of the 
United States, 330 

agrees with Sherman on a plan of 
campaign, 330 

his campaign against Lee, 331-333 

receives the surrender of Lee's 
army, 333 

elected to the Presidency, 350 
Gray, Robert, 215 
Great Britain, see England 
" Great Law," Penn's, 71 
Greeley, Horace, 351 
Greenbacks, 337 
Green Mountain Boys, 124 
Greene, Nathanael, 126, 146 
Guadalupe Hidalgo, 252 
Gnerricre, the, 198 

H 

Hackensack (New Jersey), 132 

Half-Moon, the, 46 

Halleck, General, 316 

Hamilton, Alexander: 

member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention, 156 
a friend of the Constitution, 159 
as Secretary of the Treasury, 164-65 
and the First Bank of the United 

States, 166 
leader of the Federalist party, 167 

Hampton Roads, 319 

Hancock, John, 123, 125 

Hancock, W. S., 363 

Harlem Heights, battle, 132 

Harmar, Fort, 174 

Harper's Ferry, 286 

Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), Z2y 

Harrison, Benjamin, 380, 396 

Harrison, William H., 206, 207, 234- 
235. 245 

Harrod, James, 109 

Harrodsburg (Kentucky), no 

Harte, Bret, 370, 371 

Hartford, 55, 76, 82 

Hartford Convention, 201 

Harvard College, 81 

Havana, 405 

Hawaiian Islands, 408 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 266, 267 

Hay, John, 410 

Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 414 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 360, 362 

Hay market affair, 378 

Hayne, Senator, 230 

Henry the Navigator, 12 

Henry, Fort, battle, 313 

Henry^ Patrick, 116, 125, 159 

Henry" VIL 26 

Herkimer, General, 136 

Hessians, 128, 133 

Hoboken (New Jersey), 67 

Hobson, Lieutenant, 406 

Hoe printing press, 294 

Holland, 46. 47, 48, 66 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 266, 269 



Holy Alliance, 222 

Homestead Act, 340, 353 

Hood, General J. B., 330, 331 

Hooker, General Joseph, 323, 324, 329 

Hooker, Thomas, 55 

Hoover, Herbert, 460 

Hospitals, 439 

Houston, Sam, 246 

Houston (Texas), 391 

Howe, Elias, 263 

Howe, General, 126, 128, 131-13S. ^27 

Howells, William Deane, 370, 371 

Hudson, Henry, 46-47 

Huerta, 445, 446 

Hughes, Charles E., 452 

Huguenots, 27, 64 

Hull, Isaac, 198 

Hull, William, 198, 241 

Hutchinson, Anne, 59 



Idaho: 

a part of the Oregon Country, 248 
organized as a Territory, 341 
admitted as a State, 390 
rule of the people in, 434, 435 

Illinois: 

A part of the Northwest Territory, 

154 

its early history, 207 

admitted to the Union, 208 

life in, in the early days, 209 

democracy in, 227 

its rapid growth, 243 

during the Civil War, 339 
Immigration: 

German and Scotch-Irish, 85-86 

in the Forties, 253-254 

encouraged by Congress, 340 

just after the Civil War, 353 

in the Eighties, 368-369 

in the twentieth century, 421, 469, 
470 
Impeachment of Johnson, 348 
Impressment of seamen, 169, 192, 196, 

202 
Income Tax, 337, 399, 443 
Independence, Declaration of, 128-130 
Indiana: 

a part of the Northwest Territory, 

154 
its early history, 206-207 
becomes a State, 207 
democracy in, 227 
its growth, 208, 243 
its public school system, 265 ^ 
Indians, see Reviews of Great Subjects, 

494 
" Indian Territory, 242, 391 
Industrial revolution, 183-184, 261, 291, 

365 
Initiative and referendum, 434 
Interstate Commerce Act, 376, 41S. 426 
Interstate Commerce Commission, 376, 

41S, 426 
"Intolerable Acts," 119-120, 122 
Inventions, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, 505 
Invincible Armada, 28-29 



INDEX 



515 



Iowa: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, 
190 

early history of, 254 

admitted to the Union, 254 

a free State, 297 
Irish, 254, 353 

Iron manufactures, 292, 365, 382, 421 
Iroquois, the, 34, 45, 46, 102 
Irrigation, 259, 416 
Irving, Washington, 266, 267 
Island Number 10, 317 
Italy, 447 



Jackson, Andrew: 

at New Orleans, 202 

is sent against the Creeks, 212 

defeats the Seminoles, 213 

candidate for President, 223 

a leader of the people, 227 

elected President, 22S 

his character, 228-229 

introduces the " spoils system," 229 

opposes nullification, 231 

and the Bank of the United States, 
232 

defeats Clay for the Presidency, 232- 
233 
Jackson, T. J. (Stonewall), 321, 324 
Jackson (Michigan), 283 
James I, 39, 49 
James II, 76, 77, 93 
Jamestown, 39-43 
Jay, John, 125, 147, iS9, 164, 169 
Jay Cooke, 356 
Jefferson, Thomas: 

writes the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, 128-130 

a member of Washington's cabinet, 
164 

and the location of the capital, 166 

leader of the Democratic party, 167 

his election and inauguration, 187 

states the principles of Americanism, 
188 

and the Louisiana Purchase, 188-190 

wages war upon Tripoli, 191 

has trouble with England and France, 
192-193 

refuses a third term, 193 

what he said about the Missouri Com- 
promise, 220 

what he said about Jackson, 229 

and Cuba, 404 

dies on the same day with John 
Adams, 179 
" Jefferson Territory," 290 
Jesuits, 91 
Jingoes, 400 
Joftre, General, 458 
John Brown's Raid, 285-286 
Johnson, Andrew, 342, 344-345, 347- 

348 
Johnson, Sir William, 104 
Johnston, Albert Sidney, 315-316 
Johnston, Joseph E., 321, 330, 334 
Jones, John Paul, 143 



K 



Kansas : 

explored by Coronado, 24 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, 
190 

explored by Pike, 215 

organized as a Territory, 281 

struggle in, 282-283 

admitted as a State, 290 

rule of the people in, 434, 435 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 281-282 
Kansas City, 257 
Kaskaskia (Illinois), 143, 207 
Kay, John, 183 
Kearney, Stephen, 251 
Kearsargc, the, 325 
Kenesaw Mountain, battle, 330 
Kentucky: 

its early settlement, 108-110 

admitted to the LTnion, 172 

demands the open navigation of the 
Mississippi, 1S9 

its soldiers at the battle of New Or- 
leans, 202 

its growth, 243 

remains in the Union, 304 

in the Civil War, 313, 316 
Kentucky Resolutions, 179-180 
Key, Francis Scott, 200 
King, Rufus, 156 
King George's War, 94 
King Philip's War, 75 
King William's War, 93 
King's Mountain, battle, 146 
Klondike, 411 
Knights of Labor, 386 
Knox, Henry, 126, 164 
Ku-Klux Klan, 358 



Labor: 

before the Industrial Revolution, 183 
unions in the Forties, 266, 268 
unions just after the Civil War, 357 
unions formed on a large scale, 385- 

387 

captains of, 387-388 

troubles, 357. i77< 399, 413, 45° 

laws in behalf, 436 

in the war with Germany, 460 
Lafayette, General, 140, 146 
LaFollette, Robert, 429 
Lands, public, 154, 204-205, 253, 340, 

353 
Lane, Ralph, 29 
Langley, Professor, 424 
Lanier, Sidney, 370, 371 
La Salle, 91-93 
Lawrence (Kansas), 283 
Lawrence, the, 199 
League of Nations, 471, 472 
Leavenworth, Fort, 251 
Lecompton (Kansas), 283 
Lee, General Charles, 133, 141 
Lee, Richard Henry, 125 
Lee, Robert E.: 

captures John Brown, 286 

appointed commander of the Confed- 
erates, 321 



5i6 



INDEX 



Lee, Robert E. — Continued: 
his life up to i86j. 3-m 
in the Peiiinsular Campaign, in i86-% 

3-^-3-3 

at rhancellorsville, 325-324 

at C'lettvstnirg. 3-'7 

Grant's campaign against. 33 "-333 

surrender of. at Appomattox, 333-334 
I.eisler, Jacob. 76-77 
Leonard, tlie, 19- 
I.ewis. Meriwether, 214 
Lexington, battle, 1^3 
Lexington (, Kentucky), 110 
Levden (Holland), 49 
Libraries, 1S5. 433 
Liberator, the. 268 
liberty Loans. 460 
Lincoln, Abraham: 

a pioneer of the west. 210 ^ 

his debate with Douglas. J84-JS5 

elected President. 2S6-JS7 

the effect of his election in the ir-outn, 
^97-298 

his first inaugural address, 301 

not heartily supported by leaders, 
302 

prepares for war, 304 

reorganizes the army, 308-309 

his plan of campaign, 31.? 

his Emancipation Proclamation. 323 

his services in the war, 341-342 

reelected to the Presidency, 342 

the assassination of, 343 

his mild policy, 344, 345 
Line of IK'inarcation, 25 
Literature. American, 266, 267, 269, 

370. 371 
Livingstone. Robert, 125, 189 
Locomotive, tlie, 241, 366 
" Log Cabin " campaign. 234 
Longfellow. Henry Wadsworth. 266. 269 
Long Island, battle. 131 
Loom, the. 183 
Los Angeles. 391 
Lost Mountain, battle. 330 
Louis XIV, 91, 92. 93 
Louisburg. 94. 103 
Louisiana ( French) : 

taken possession of by La Salle, 92 

settlements in, 94 

divided between England and Spain, 

105, 106 
purchased by the Ignited States, 188- 

190 
formal transfer of, 211 
Louisiana (State): 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, 

190 
early history of, 211-212 
admitted to the Union, 212 
secedes from the Union, 300 
Louisiana Purchase, 188-190 
Louisville, iio, 293 
Lowell, 203 
Lowell. Francis. 224 
Lundy's Lane, battle. 200 
Lusitania. the. 447 
Lutherans. 82 
Lyon, Nathaniel. 306 



M 



Mackinaw (Michigan). 169, 241 
McClellan, George B., 307, 308-309, 

320-323 
McCormick, his reaper, 261 
Mcnowoll. General. 308, 321 
Mcllenry, I'ort. battle, 200 
McKiiiley Tariff, 394, 401 
McKinley, William, 394, 401-403, 405, 

412 
Mailero. Francisco, 445 
Madison (\^■isconsin), 255 
Madison. James: 

a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention. 156 

a friend of ratification, 159 

elected President, 193 

sketch of his life. 193-194 

his trouble with England. 195 

opposed to slavery, 274 
^Ligellan, his great voyage, 20-23 
Maine. 54, 220 note 
Maine, the, 404 
Maiden, Fort, 198 
Manassas, battles at, 308, 32^ 
Manhattan Island, 48 
Manila, 406, 408 
^lann. Horace, 265 
Manufacturing, see Reviews of Great 

Subjects, 497 
Marietta (Ohio), 174 
Marion. I'rancis, 144 
Maniuette. James. 91-92 
Marshall, James W., 256 
Mary. Queen of England, 76 
Maryland: 

founding of, 61-62 

religion in, 62, 82 

government in. 62. 82 

dispute about boundary line. 70 note 

population of. in 1700, 79 

during the Revolution. 116, 135-144 

roads and railroads in. 205, 239 

remains in the L'nion, 304 

during the Civil War, 322, 327 
Mason and Dixon's Line, 70 
Mason and Slidell affair, 310 
Massachusetts: 

settlement of, 51-52 

government in, 53 

joins the New England Confederation, 

59. 

deprived of its charter. 76 

becomes a royal province. 76 

population of. in 1700. 79 

during the Revolution. 116. iiS-119, 
123-128 

Tories in, 133 

Shay's Rebellion in, 153 
. opposed to the War of 1S12, 197 

industry in, 182, 224 

public schools in, 265 

in the ("ivil War, 306 
Maximilian, 349 
Maytiou'cr. the, 50 
Meade. General. 327 
Mechanicsville, battle. 321 
Memphis, 317 

Merchant marine. 325. 449 
Merit System, 364 



INDEX 



S17 



Merriinac and the Monitor, 319-3-0 
Merritt, General, 406 , 

Mexico: 

Cortes in, 22 

loses Texas, 246 

war with, 248-250 

the French in, 349 

trouble with, 445-446 
Michigan : 

exi)lorcd by the French, 44 

carved out of the Northwest Terri- 
tory, 154 

in the War of 1812, 198-199 

as a Territory, 241 

admitted as a Stale, 241 

Republican party in, 283 

rule of the people in, 434, 435 
Miles, General, 407 
Milwaukee, 255, 293, 370 
Minimum Wage Law, 437 
Minneapolis, 370, 444 
Minnesota: 

carved out of the Northwest Territory 
(in part), 154 

its wonderful growth, 289 

admitted to the Union, 289 

a free State, 297 
Minuit, Peter, 48, 68 
" Minute-men," 124 
Miquelon, 105 
iVlis.sionary Ridge, 329 
Mississippi: 

early history of, 213 

admitted to the Union, 213 

removal of Indians from, 242 

secedes from the Union, 300 

in the Civil War, 328 
Mississippi River, 2^, <)2, 189, 214, 317, 

328 
Missouri: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, 
190 

early history of, 216 

debate over admission of, 219-221 

admitted to the Unjpn, 220 

remains in the Lhiion, 304 

during the Civil War, 306 
Missouri Compromise, 219-221, 281, 

282 
Mitchell, John, 413 
Molino del Key, battle, 250 
Money, see General Reviews, 505 
Monitor and the Merriinac, 319-320 
Monmouth, battle, 141 
Monopoly, 1 19, 393 
Monroe, I'ortress, 320 
Monroe, James, 218-219, 222 
Monroe Doctrine, 222-223, 349, 400 
Montana: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase 
(in part), 190 

made a Territory, 341 

admitted to the Union, 389 

its resources, 390 

rule of the people in, 434, 435 
Montcalm, General, 104-105 
Monterey, battle, 250 
Montgomery, Richard, 126 
Montgomery (Alabama), 300 
Morgan, Daniel, 126, 137 
Mormons, 259-260 



Morrill Tariff, 337 
Morristown (New Jersey), 134 
Morse, S. F. H., 263 
Mount Vernon, 182 
Murfreesboro, battle, 317 

N 

Nantes, Indict of, 64 
Napoleon, sec Honaparte 
Napoleon III, 310, 349 
Nashville, battle, 331 
Natchez, 94 
National Hanks, 337 
National Defense Act, 450 
National Road, 205, 236 
Nauvoo (Illinois), 259 
Naval warfare: 

the defeat of the Armada, 28-29 

in the Revolution, 143 

in the War of 1812, 198—199 

in the Civil War, 317, 319, 325 

in the war with Germany, 4O2 
Navigation Laws, 73 
Navy, the American, 375, 451 
Nebraska: 

carved out of the I-ouisiana Purchase, 
190 

organized as a Territory, 281 

its growth, 290 

admitted as a State, 354 

rule of the people in, 434 
Nevada, 290, 341 
New Amsterdam, 48, 67 
Newark, 293, 370 
New England: 

foundations of, 5 1-54. 55-59 

democracy in, 59 

education in, 81, 184 

slavery in, 79 

trouble with James II, 76 

religion in, 83 

attacked by Canada, 93-94 

ojjposed to the War of 1812, 197 

sends delegates to the Hartford Con- 
vention, 201 

manufacturing in, 81, 182, 224 
New England Confederation, 59 
New Hampshire, 53-54, 59, 79 
New Haven colony, 57 
New Jersey: 

its settlement, 67-68 

religion in, 82 

during the Revolution, 116, 132-134, 
141 
New Mexico: 

explored by Coronado, 23 

taken by the United States, 251 

made a Territory, 260 

and the Compromise of 1850, 277, 278 

and the Gadsden Purchase, 291 note 

admitted to the Union, 429 
New Netherland, 47-48, 67 
New Northwest, 389-391 
New Orleans: 

founding of, 94 

ceded to Spain, 106 

closed to the Americans, 189 

battle of, 201-202 

during the Civil War, 317-318 

exposition in, 365 



5i8 



INDEX 



New South, the, 364-365 
New Southwest, 391-392 
Newspapers, 184, 295, 433 
New Sweden, 68 
Newton (New York), 143 
New York (colony and State) : 

settlement of, by the Dutch, 46-48 

is taken by the English, 66-67 

Andros, governor of, 76 

population of, in 1700, 79 

Germans in, 85 

early westward movement in, 89 

ravaged by the Indians, 93 

in the French and Indian War, 104 

during the Revolution, 116, 125, 131- 
133. 136-138. 143 

evacuated by the British, 149 

withdi^aws its claim to Vermont, 172 

opposed to the War of 1812, 197 

builds the Erie Canal, 237-239 

growth of western, 239 

Mormons in, 259 

establishes public schools, 265 

physical education in, 432 
New York City: 

its first name New Amsterdam, 67 

during the Revolution, 116, 131-133. 
141 

Washington inaugurated in, 163 

its population, 180, 292, 370 

desires the trade of the west, 238 

the national metropolis, 239 

hospitals in, 439 

the flow of money to, 443 
Niagara, Fort, 103, 104 
Niagara Falls, 200 
Non-Intercourse Act, 193, 19s 
North, Lord, 118, 146 
North Carolina: 

first colony on coast of, 29 

settlement of, 62-64 

becomes a royal province, 65 

pioneers push out from, iio 

during the Revolution, 146 

gives Tennessee to the United States, 
172 

secedes from the Union, 304 
North Dakota: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase 
190 

admitted as a State, 389 

its development, 390 

rule of the people in, 434, 435 
Northern Pacific Railroad, 354 
Northwest, the New, 341, 389-391 
Northwest Territory: 

during the Revolution, 143 

a cement for union, 154 

government of, 175 

division of, 176 

public lands of, 154, 204 

education in, 265 
Norwegians, 368 
Nova Scotia, 94, 103 
Nullification, 180, 201, 230-232 
Nurses, visiting, 439 

O 

Ogden (Utah), 353 
Oglethorpe, James, 87 



Ohio: 

carved out of the Northwest Terri- 
tory, 173 

early history of, 175-176 

dernands the opening of the Missis- 
sippi, 189 

becomes a State, 204-205 

life in, in the early days, 208 

the " mother of Presidents," J09 

democracy in, 227, 434 

its trade, z^y 

influence of the Erie Canal on, 241 

its rapid growth, 243 

underground railroads in, 275 

rule of the people in, 434 
Ohio River, discovery of, 92 
Oklahoma: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase 
(in part), 190 

becomes a Territory, 391-392 

its rapid growth, 392 

admitted to the Union, 429 

rule of the people in, 434 
" Old Hickory," 229 
Omaha, 353 
Omnibus Bill, 278 
" Open door policy," 410 
Ordinance of 1787, 174-175, 265 
Oregon: 

claimed by several different nations, 
215-216 

acquired by the United States, 247- 
248 

made a Territory, 256 

admitted to the Union, 291 

rule of the people in, 434, 435 
Oregon trail, 257 
Orient, 4, 10-12, 13 
Oriskany, 136 
Oswego, 136, 169 
Otis, James, 115 



Pacific Ocean, discovery of, 20 

Paine, Thomas, 128 

Pakenham, Sir Edward, 202 

Palos, 16 

Panama Canal, 413-415 

Panics: 

of 1837, 234 

of 18-3, 356 

of 1893. 399-400 
Parcel Post, 428 
Pardon and Amnesty, 345, 351 
Paris, treaties of: 

of 1763, 105-106 

of 1783, 147 

of 1900, 407 

of 1919, 471 
Parker, Alton B., 415 
Parliament, the English, 6-7, 52, 115, 

117, 119, 138 
Parties, political, see names of different 

parties 
Patents, 422 

Patrons of husbandry, 357 
Patroons, 47, 67 
Payne Tariff, 426 
Peace, 467, 468 
Peace Conference, 471 



INDEX 



519 



Peasants, 6 

Peninsular campaign, 320-321 

Penn, William, 69-72 

Pennsylvania: 

granted to Penn, 6g 

settlement of, 70-72 

slavery in, 79 

religion in, 82 

Germans in, 85 

Scotch-Irish in, 86 

westward movement in, 8g, 108 

during the Revolution, 116, 125, 134, 
135. 142 

insurrection in western, 166 

builds canal, 239 

public school system in, 265 

underground railroad in, 275 

during the Civil War, 327, 332 
Pepperell, William, 94 
Pequot War, 56 
Perry, Oliver Hazard, 198-199 
Perryville, battle, 317 
Pershing, General, 458 
Petersburg, siege, 332, 333 
Petroleum, 421 
Philadelphia : 

founding of, 71 

its growth, 72, 180, 292, 370 

Scotch-Irish in, 86 

the capital city, 134 

Constitutional Convention in. 156 

her trade with the west, 239 

Centennial Exposition in, 359 

flow of money to, 443 
Philippi, battle, 307 
Philippine Islands, 22, 405-409 
Phonograph, the, 367 
Physical education, 432 
Pickett, General, 327 
Pierce, Franklin, 280, 281 
Pike, Zebulon, 215 
Pike's Peak, 215, 290 
Pilgrims, 49-51 
Pinckney, Charles, 178 
Pinkney, William, 196 
Pitcairn, Major, 124 

Pittsburgh, 104, 108, 239, 288, 357, 370 
Pittsburgh Landing, battle, 315 
Pitt, William, 103, 104, 117 
Pizarro, 22 
Plates, the leaden, 95 
Plows, 3, 180, 261, 366 
Plymouth (town), 51 
Plymouth colony, 49-50, 76 
Pocohontas, 41 
Poe, Edgar Allan, 266, 269 
Polk, James K., 246-250 
Ponce de Leon, 23 
Pontiac's Conspiracy, 108 
Pope, General, 317, 322 
Population: 

of the colonies, 79, 90, 97 

of the United States: 
in 1790, 180 
in 1800, 180 
in 1820, 217 
in 1840, 243 
in 1850, 272 
in i860, 305 
in 1870, 368 
in 1880, 368 



Population, of the United States — 

Continued : 
in 1890, 368 
in 1900, 421 
in 1912, 421 
center of, 243 
Port Hudson, 318 
Portland (Oregon), 354, 389 
Porto Rico, 407, 408 
Portsmouth (Ohio), 175 
Portugal, 12-13, 25 
Postal affairs, 152, 288, 428, 432 
Potatoes, 3 
Povvderly, T. V., 388 
Preemption Law, 253 
Presbyterians, 82 
Prescott, Col. William, 126 
President, the office of, 157 
Presidential Succession, 375, 
Presidents of the LTnited States, see 

names of different Presidents; also 

Reviews of Great Subjects, 502 
Princeton, battle, 134 
Printing, invention of, 9 
Printing-press, the Hoe, 294 
Proliibition, 468 
Progress, tables of, 368, 421 
Progressive party, 430, 452 
Protection to industries, 224, 355, 380, 

426 
Providence, 58, 294 
Provincetown, 50 
Public Lands, 154, 204-205, 253, 340, 

3 53 
Public schools, 82, 184, 265-266, 369, 

431-432 
Pueblo (Colorado), 290 
Pullman strike. 400 
Pure Food Act, 416 
Puritans, 51-53, 54. 58, 83 
Put-in-bay, 199 
Putnam, Israel, 126, 131 

Q 

Quakers, 69-71, 82 
Quebec, 44, 105, 126 
Queen Anne's War, 93-94 

R 

Railroads: 

the first, 239-240 

and the telegraph, 263 

trunk lines, 288 

across the continent. 340 

Union Pacific, 353-354 

Northern Pacific, 354-355, 389 

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, 391 

and the (jrangers, 357 

regulation of, 357, 3/6, 4"5. 426 

improvements in, 366 

mileage, 368, 421 

electrification of, 422 

and the eight hour law, 450 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 29-31 
Randolph, Edmund, 164 
Randolph, John, 197 
Rate Laws, 415, 426 
Reapers, 261, 366 
Recall, the, 434 



520 



INDEX 



! 



Reconstruction, the work of, 344-347 
Red Cross, 439, 460 
Red Wing (Minnesota), 289 
Referendum, 434 

Religion, see Reviews of Great Sub- 
jects, 496 
Renaissance, the, 8 
Representative government, 42 
Republican party, rise of, 283-284 
Resaca, battle, 330 
Reservations, Indian, 355, 392 
Revere, Paul, 123 
Revolution, war of the, see Reviews of 

Great Subjects, 498 
Rhode Island: 

founding of, 58-59 

allowed to govern itself, 76 

its population in 1700, 79 

religion in, 83 

during the Revolution, 116 

did not frame a new constitution, 150 

not represented in the Convention of 
1787, 156 

opposed to the War of 1812, 197 
Rice, 64, 180 
Richmond (Virginia), 308, 309, 320, 

321, 331. 333 
Road, National, 205, 236 
Roads, 4, 32, 205, 424, 449 
Roanoke Island, 29 
Rochester, 239, 293 
Rockefeller, John I)., 387, 439 
Rolfe, John, 41 
Roosevelt, Theodore, 407. 412, 413- 

419, 429, 430 
Rosecrans, General, 317 
" Rough Riders," 407 
Rumsey, James, 205 
Rural Credits Act, 449 
Rural Free Delivery, 432 
Russia, 221, 350, 447 



St. Augustine, 27 

St. Clair, Arthur, 175 

St. Joseph (Missouri). 289 

St. Lawrence River, 27, 44 

St. Leger, General, 136 

St. Louis, 216, 292, 370, 444 

St. Mihiel, 464 

St. Pierre (island), 105 

Salem (Ma.=sachusetts), 51 

Salt Lake City, 260 

Sampson, Admiral, 406, 407 

San Antonio, 391 

Sandusky (Ohio), 199 

San Francisco, 258, 294, 370, 415, 444 

San Jacinto, 246 

San Juan, 407 

San Salvador, 17 

Santa Anna, General, 250 

Santa Fe, 251 

Santa Fe trail, 258 

Santa Maria, the, 16 

Santiago, battle, 407 

Saratoga, 137 

Sault Ste. Marie Canal, 289 

Savannah, 87, 144. 33i 

Scandanavians, 353 

Schenectady, 47, 93 



Schleswig-Holstein, 409 

Schley, Admiral, 407 

Schools, public, 82, 184, 265-266, 369, 

431-432 
Schuyler, General, 136 
Scotch-Irish, 86 

Scott, Winfield, 200, 250, 280, 302 
Seattle, 390 
Secession : 

the first, 300 

Davis gives reason for, 300 

Lincoln denies the right of, 301 
the second, 304 

the end of, 347 
Sedition Law, 179 
Selective Draft Act, 459 
Seminoles, 213 
Semmes, Raphael, 325 
Serbia, 447 
Serfs, 5 

Servants " indented," 79 
Sevire, John, 172 
Seward, William H., 302 
Sewing machines, 186, 263 
Seymour, Horatio, 350 
Shawneetown (Illinois), 207 
Shay's Rebellion, 153 
Shenandoah \'alley, 89-90, 321, 332 
Sheridan, Philip, 332, 349 
Sherman, Roger, 156 
Sherman, W. T., 329-331. 334 
Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 393, 418, 428- 

429 
Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 395 
Shiloh, battle, 315-316 
Shipping Board, 449 
Shipbuilding, 81, 450 
Silver, coinage of, 395, 401-403, 411 
Simms, William Gilmore, 266. 267 
Sioux Indians, 2S9, 355 
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, 306 
Slater, Samuel, 184 
Slavery, see General Review, 503 
Slidell, John, 310 
Smith, John, 40-41 
Smith, Joseph, 259 
Smuggling, IIS 

Socialist party, 4151 419. 43°. 452 
Society of Friends, 69 
Society of Jesus, 91 
South, the new, 364-365 
South Carolina: 

settlement of, 63-65 

during the Revolution, 116, 144 

opposes the Tariff of Abominations, 
225 

nullification in, 230-232 

secedes from the Union, 300 

takes possession of the forts, 302 

carpet-bag rule in, 358 
South Dakota: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, 
190 

admitted to the Union, 389 

its growth, 390 

rule of the people in, 434. 435 
Southwest, the new, 391-392 
Spain : 

assists Columbus, 15 

secures possession of Florida, 23 

New World claimed by, 25 



INDEX 



521 



Spain — Continued : 

destroys French settlements, 27 
loses her navy, 28 

receives a portion of Louisiana, 106 
receives Florida from England, 147 
closes the Mississippi to Americans, 

189 
cedes Louisiana back to France, 189 
sells Florida to the United States, 

213-214 
claims Oregon, 215 
loses her colonies in South America, 

222 
at war with the United States, 405- 
408 
Spoils system, 229, 364 
Spokane, 390 

Spottswood, Governor of \'irginia, 89 
Spottsylvania, battle, 331 
" Squatter sovereignty," 281 
Stamp Act, 1 15 
Stamp Act Congress, 116 
Standard Oil Company, 385, 418, 428- 

429 
Standish, Miles, 50 
Stark, John, 126, 136 
Star of tlie West, the, 301 
*' Star Spangled Banner," 200 
States, government of, 150-151; sec 

names of the several States 
Steam, 4, 185, 294 
Steam-engine, 183 
Steamboats, 185, 206, 294 
Steel Trust, 385 
Steuben, Baron, 140 
Stockton, Commodore, 251 
Stoves, 6, 186, 295 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 266, 267, 280 
Strikes, 357, 377, 400, 413, 450 
Stuyvesant, Peter, 66, 68 
Submarines, 448, 454, 461, 462 
Suffrage, the right of, 83, 18,4, 227, 266, 

347. 435 
Sugar Trust, 384 
Sullivan, General, 143 
Sumter, Fort, 302, 304 
Sumter, Thomas, 144 
Supreme Court of the United States, 
158, 164, 231, 2S4, 357, 399, 428, 
429 
Swedes, 68, 368 
Syracuse, 239, 293 



Tacoma (Washington), 390 

Taft, William FL, 410, 425-429, 430 

Tampico incident, 446 

Tariff, the. 165, 224; see also General 

Review, 504 
Taxation: 

of the colonies by England, 114 

resistance to, 115 

and representation, 116 

under Articles of Confederation, 152 

under the Constitution, 158 

on imports, i6q 

during the Civil War, 336-337 

Income Tax, the, 337, 399, 443 
Taylor, Zachary, 250, 271-272, 273 
Tea, tax on, 117, 119 



Tecumseh, 206 
Telegraph, 263, 294, 426 

Telephone, 186, 367 

Tennessee: 

beginnings of, iio-iii 
during the Revolution, 146 
becomes a State, 172 
dernands open navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi, 189 
its rapid growth, 243 
secedes from the Union, 304 
in the Civil War, 328, 329, 331 

Tenure of Office Act, 348 

Territories, see names of several Terri- 
tories 

Territorial Government, 171, 172 

Texas: 

annexation of, 246-247 
disputed territory in, 249 
secedes from the Union, 300 
development of western, 391 

Texas and Pacific Railroad, 391 

Tliirteenth Amendment, 346 

Thomas, General, 329, 330-331 

Threshing machines, 3, 366 

Ticonderoga, 124, 131, 136 

Tilden, Samuel J., 359-360 

Tiopecanoe, 207 

" Tippecanoe and Tyler too," 234-235 

Tobacco, 3, 41, 181 

Toombs, Robert, 302 

Topeka, 283 

Tories, 133, 142 

Tory Rangers, 142 

Town-meeting, 51, 53 

Townshend Acts, 117-118 

Trade, see Commerce 

Trails, 32, 257 

Transportation, see under Canals, Steam, 
Steamboats, Railroads; also see Gen- 
eral Review, 504 

Treasury notes (Greenbacks), 337 

Treaties, see General Reviews, 500 

Trent Affair, the, 310 

Trent, William, 99 

Trenton, battle, 134 

Tripoli, war with, igi 

Trolley cars, 366 

Troy (New York), 47, 293 

Trusts, the, 384-385. 393. 418, 428-429, 
444 

Turkey, 417, 465 

Turks, II 

Tweed, William M., 358 

Tyler, John, 234, 245-246 

U 

" Uncle Tom's Cabin," 280 note 
Underground railroad, 275-276, 280 
Underwood Law, 442 
Union, the: 

steps in the formation of, see General 
Review, 502 

in Monroe's time, 218 

Webster's defense of, 230-231 

secessions from, 300, 304 

saved by the Civil War, 336 

indestructible. 347 

a united people, 374 
Union Pacific Railroad, 353, 391 



522 



INDEX 



United States: , ^ , , 

independence of, declared, 128-130 

recognized by France, 138 

Constitution of, 156-161 

new government of, organized, 163- 
164 

territorial growth of, 251 

a world power, 404, 410 
Universities and Colleges, 82, 184, 265, 
369; see also General Reviews, 504 
Utah: 

early history of, 259-260 

as aiTected by the Compromise of 
1850, 278 

becomes a State, 390 note 
Utica (New York), 239 
Utrecht, treaty of, 94 

V 

Valley Forge, 135, 14° 

Van Buren, Martin, 233-234, 271 

\"enezuela Boundary Dispute, 400 

Vera Cruz, 250, 446 

Vermont: 

part of a proprietary grant, 54 

during the Revolution, 136 

admitted to the Union, 172 
Vespucius, Americus, 18 
Vicksburg, siege of, battle, 328 
Villa, Francisco, 446 
Vincennes, 143, 206 
Vinland, 12 
Virginia: 

origin of the name, 29 

early history of, 39^43 

rule of Berkeley in, 73 

Bacon's Rebellion, 74-75 

population of, in 1700, 79 

education in, 82 

religion in, 82 r ., ,, 

settles the Shenandoah Valley, 89-90 

in the Ohio valley, 96 

in the French and Indian War, 99- 

101 ^ c 

during the Revolution, 116, 120. 14° 
sends Clark to the Northwest Terri- 
tory, 143 , ^T , X T 

retains a slice of the Northwest Ter- 
ritory, 154 
permits Kentucky to separate, 172 
Virginia Resolutions, 179 
the " Mother of Presidents," 209 
John Brown's raid in, 285-286 
secedes from the Union, 304 
loses West Virginia, 307 
in the Civil War, 308, 319-324, 33i- 

334 
Virgin Islands, 451 note 
Vocational education. 431 
Voting, right of, 83, 184, 227, 266, 347, 



435 



W 



i, 241 lc»^ 



IValk-in-the-lVater, the, -, 
War of 1812. 196-202; see General Re- 
view, 498 -^ »-. .-i-. ^^ 
Wars, see General Rey*evvIUa3 Z .t 
Washington. George: ^*' *:f fcf t-» 
sent to the forts on the Ohio, 99 



Washington, George — Continued : 
joins the army of Braddock, 10 1 
marches against Fort Duquesne, 104 
offers to help Massachusetts, 120 
a member of the Second Continental 

Congress, 125 
in command of the American army, 

drives the British out of Boston, 126- 

128 
at first opposed to separation from 

England, 128 
" the sword of the Revolution," 129 
foils the British at New York, 132 
annoyed by Tories, 133 
loses two forts, 133 
at Trenton and Princeton, 134 
at Brandywine and Germantown, 135 
in winter quarters at Valley Forge, 

140 
at Monmouth, 140-141 
reprimands and forgives Arnold, 145 
at Yorktown, 146 

at the Constitutional Convention, 156 
elected President, 163 
his cabinet, 164 
puts down the Whisky Insurrection, 

166 ^ ^ 

neutral as between France and Eng- 
land, 168 
approves of Jay's treaty, 169 
retires to private life, 169 
liked ceremony, 187 
was opposed to slavery, 274 
Washington (city) : 

how the capital came to be located on 

the Potomac, 166 
the city in 1800, 187 
during the War of 1812, 200 
during the Civil War, 309, 321 
its growth, 370 
Washington (State) : 

a part of the Oregon country, 252 
organized as a Territory, 291 
admitted as a State, 389 
its growth and resources, 391 
rule of the people in, 434, 435 
Watauga (Tennessee), iio-iii 
Watt, James, 183 
Wayne, Anthony, 175 
Wealth of the United States, 368, 421 
Webster-Ashburton treaty, 245 
Webster, Daniel, 230, 245, 278 
West Indies, 72, 192 
Westinghouse, George, 366 
West Point, 145 
West Virginia: 

separates from Virginia, 307 

admitted as a State, 308 

and the Emancipation Proclamation, 

323 
Westward Movement: 
first steps, 56 

in the Shenandoah Valley, 89 
Kentucky and Tennessee, 1 08-1 11 
the Northwest Territory, i43. '54. 

173-176 ^ 

between 1800 and 1820, 204-216 
•) transportation and western develop- 
ment, 236-240 
Michigan, 241 



S: 



INDEX 



523 



Westward Movement - — Continued : 
in the Forties, 253-260 
in the Fifties, 289-291 
during the Civil War, 340-341 
just after the Civil War, 353-355 
the New Northwest, 389—391 
the New Southwest, 391-392 
last events of, 429 

Wethersfield (Connecticut), 57 

Wlieat, 4, 181, 208, 291, 355, 421 

Wheeling, 108, 205. 241, 308 

Whig party, 234, 247, 271, 280, 283 

Whisky Insurrection, 166 

Whisky ring, 359 

White, John, 29 

White Plains, 132 

Whitman, Walt, 371 

Whitney's cotton-gin, 181, 183, 214 

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 266, 269 

Wilderness, the, battle, 331 

Willamette valley, 255 

William III, 76, 93 

William and Mary College, 82 

Williams, Roger, 58-59 

Williamsburg, battle, 320 

Wilmington (Delaware), 68 

Wilmot Proviso, 276 

Wilson Tariff, 399j 401 

Wilson, Woodrow, 429, 442-448, 451, 
454-457 

Windsor (Connecticut), 57 

Winslow, John, 325 

Winthrop, John, 51-52 



Wireless telegraphy, 426 
Wisconsin : 

explored by the French, 44 

part of the Northwest Territory, 154 

early history of, 254-255 

becomes a State, 255 

a. free State, 297 
Wolfe, James, 104 
Woman suffrage, 227, 266, 435 
Women in war times, 338, 460 
Wood, Jethro, 261 
Wood, Leonard, 407 
World's Columbian Exposition, 397 
Writs of Assistance, 115 
Wj'andotte (Kansas), 283 
Wyoming: 

carved out of the Louisiana Purchase 
(in part), 190 

made a Territory, 354 

admitted as a State, 390 

woman suffrage in, 435 
Wyoming (Pennsylvania), 142 



X 



X. Y. Z. affair, 178 



Vale College, 82 
York, Duke of, 66, 67, 69 
Yorktown, battles, 146, 320 
Young, Brigham, 259-260 







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